President Ferrin is leaving :-(

8-25-14

Hey mom!

Dad, I enjoyed your story, I'm happy to hear that everything came out alright if you know what I mean *nudge, nudge*  And how's your sunday school class?

Man I'm gonna have aNother little one calling me tio (uncle) this week! That's awesome!

How was your week?

My week was good, Carlinho went to the church for the second time and it was a small miracle and very cool. We were at his house Saturday at night and we were teaching him about the restoration. He had already gone to church once without us even teaching him which was very cool as well. After he went to church, Elder Rivera and I decided that we'd stop teaching people and just invite them to come to church and then they'd all come. We were joking of course. But anyways, we were finishing up the lesson and we invited him and his mom (who was there) to be baptized. He accepted as did his mom (which honestly isn't that rare of a thing, the hard part is following through) and it was cool too because his mom was like "yeah, go there, get baptized!" haha and then we set them for a date (the 7th of September) and then the mom, Geralda, said that she was already baptized. We explained it to her and she understood it so well that she said she'd be baptized again if she felt that what we said was true. But then came the invite to come to church came and he said he would have to work on his house that he's building tomorrow. Elder Rivera and I were a bit sad but we told him of the importance of the day of the Lord and to not work on this day and we promised blessings and after about 5 minutes of talking, he said he'd go to church! He's a little timid but he has a good desire to follow Christ I believe. And tonight we're going to a family night with him and another member of the ward who lives very close and this Saturday we're going to be one of the Lord's "blessings" We're going to help him build his house with some other members of the church! I'm hopeful that we'll be able to help him to come unto Christ through His church. We have some barriers that we'll have to knock down first but it's possible. He's not married and his wife doesn't want to marry right now but I know that if we can help him.

Mission conference was cool, I learned about the importance of specific prayers and specific planning. And we're excited to apply other things that we learned as well. We'll see if it makes a big difference

Any news on your mission president yet?

It's for sure now, President Ferrin and his wife will be leaving us by the end of this week and the new president will be arriving. I told them to say hi if they see you guys in Houston.

Have you had your night of integration yet?  If so, how did it go?

Yeah we did! It was cool. Everyone seemed to have liked it. It was a good start. We'll be in charge again this week and we'll have the theme of the tree of life. But next week, and the week after, 2 other organizations have already volunteered to be responsible for those nights! That's awesome! I'm happy for this :) I was thinking. I may not baptize the most or be the best missionary in a lot of aspects but I can at least organize an activity and make it so that even when I leave, the activity will continue thus blessing the lives of many others. It's become a goal of mine, to set up integration nights and other such things in all the areas that I pass in.

Well... I think that's about it. The times about up so I'm gonna send this off but thanks for your love and prayers and letters. I love you all!

  

Elder Horton

Last picture with President Ferrin on my mission.

They think that it's funny...it kinda is.  Cool backpack huh?

August 18, 2014 Best week!

Family

I loved hearing about Liz's post on facebook :) That's super cute

Wow, that's crazy about Bonnie, but at least she's in the US right and has medical help there right? Imagine if she was in Brasil. Maybe that's why she never got her visa

I was telling the branch president here about how your wedding anniversary and Chinese food saved my life and he chuckled a bit.

Have you ever heard of Doctor Ray? He was in my area, Pindamonhongaba, this last Saturday and one of the young woman of the church saw him and took a video with him. I was hoping he would show up at church but he didn't, he's a fubeca. I believe he's a member of the church.

This week, we were knocking doors to find new investigators and we knocked (or really clapped) one door and out came a man and we began to talk and he said he had a cousin that was a missionary too. We entered in the house and we began to talk and they were all very nice and receptive and we came to know that this cousin of his that served a mission came to know the church because she did a foreign exchange student type of thing and went and lived with a family in Las Vegas that was a member of the church. There, she came to know the church and decided to become a member. She came back to Brasil and then served a mission in Brasil but now she teaches in the MTC here in São Paulo and her non-member mom is "more Mormon than the other members of the church" according to the missionaries there who go there monthly to eat lunch. And her entire family now has that basic understanding and connection with the church and if it wasn't for her, maybe this other family would never have let us in. Interesting right? All because one LDS Family opened up their house :) It's a Marvelous idea :) I loved it, I think I might do something like it haha.

This week has been one of my best weeks with Elder Rivera. I've said a lot about him and complained about some things and he does have some problems but I've been really prideful as well and I recognized that this last week and a bit so I'm trying to be more humble and be a better friend of him and loving him and it's making a difference.

Any news on Pres Ferrin’s visa??  I hope he doesn’t have to be gone long!  That IS crazy!

The president was also wanting to return soon but in his weekly letter to the missionaries, he said that that was his selfish desire getting in the way of the will of the Lord so he and we are pretty well set that the Lord has a great plan in all of this and that this new president that will end up coming will be able to help in other ways that that the Lord wants the mission to be helped. We'll see what happens.

What is your bathroom of death??  I’m intrigued!

Oh it's just a really disgusting 2nd bathroom that we have.

How is the work going?  Who are you teaching?

It's good, we goign to start doing a night of integration weekly which is just like a fun activity for the whole branch to participate and for the members to bring friends and for the investigators to be integrated so I'm happy to get this going. We've got some hopeful investigators but no one that's really Ready to be baptized and time is short so I'm gonna continue. It sufficeth me to say that it goes well. and I'm excited and happy.

  

Also, in my unpacking I found a pocket size Book of Mormon.  I think it was Jonathan’s.  It’s in a special cereal box case he must have made for it.  Do you want me to send it to you?

...nah just hold onto it. I'll just stick with my regular Portuguese Book of Mormon

Also, a new debit card came for your account.  I should probably activate it and send it to you.  I’m just hesitant to send that in the mail…  What do you think?  Have you used your card recently?  I wonder if it still works…?  I should probably send it – maybe tucked in the pages of the Book of Mormon. 

Ummm...maybe you can call the bank and see if the old card will still work?

Anything else you need?

I believe that here in a couple weeks there will come some colored pencil pens (2 of them) from china that I ordered so just be waiting for that and then when it comes, you can send it to me with anything else I'm wanting/needing at that time. How much is it to send a package like that with 2 pens?

How are those shoes holding up?

They're holdin'. We'll see if they make it the whole 2 years.

Thanks for the letter and the love and the prayers.

Elder Horton

Crazy News

Hey family!

Here's some crazy news, our mission president went to renew his visa but he went a bit late, after it had already expired. He thought that they would just have to pay some extra tax but it's actually a bit worse than that. They'll be returning to the United States until they can renew the visa. He'll continue as mission president (I believe via skype and what not) but he won't be in Brasil until they can resolve this.

I liked reading the letter and loved the pictures of the kids and their pirate party :) It seems like they invited another family too.

Since I've started to work out, my muscles have really gotten big! Like not Arnold Schwartznegger big but a bit bigger at least. I'm excited :) when I get home the ladys won't be able to resist me ;) But I'm not worried about that right now, I'm worried about the mission. 

Quote of the week I was playing guitar and Elder Rivera said "If the girls don't date your face, they'll date your guitar" which doesn't seem to translate very well....but basically if I don't have good looks, they'll at least go out with me because I play the guitar well. We were at the house of an investigator family and one of the sons plays guitar (acoustic and electric) since he was 10. Men he played a bit on the electric guitar and that was Awesomeee. Made me want to learn. He taught me one thing which I was happy to learn, I think it was by ACDC. It was very legit. And then we ate a delicious lasagna and Churrascoooooo!!!! Man I love brasilean BBQ.

We watched the other side of heaven today this morning already. Very good movie, I forgot that that was Anne Hathaway. I learned some things also that I think I'll be able to apply to my mission. We're going to watch Ephraim's Rescue as well later today :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xVw6PsSinI

I feel like if it was obligated that Everyone in the world had to watch this film, that there would be millions of converts to the church of Christ

How was your week?

This week was a good one, my district is being more obedient and my companion and I are doing better. We worked pretty hard this past week and we're seeing some of the fruits.

Did you do anything special for pday today? 

Nope, today we're keeping it chill, I really just wanted to rest today. I think my companion and Elder Paulo, the Brasilean are gonna go play some soccer but me and Elder Gilliat are gonna stay at home I think. at 6, we'll start to make our rounds so Elder Paulo can say goodbye. We don't Know what's going to happen yet but he has 6 months here so he'll probably be transferred. We'll see.

Do people comment on your accent anymore? 

That's an interesting subject. The other day, a sister in the ward was praising me for how well I speak portuguese and basically without accent. And the same day someone couldn't manage to understand me when I was talking normally. Sooo it's on the 2 sides. I don't know, maybe sometimes my accent is better than others, maybe sometimes I'm more tired or lazy. I dunno but I feel like my accent is pretty good. It doesn't help that I've only ever had 1 brasilean companion and my current companion speaks with a strong spanish accent.

Do you speak Portuguese with your companion?

Yeah, that's our only common language. But I Am learning spanish with him which is pretty cool. He learns some things in english too but doesn't try as hard to learn or speak as I do.

Tell me about your apartment in this area – I keep forgetting to ask about it!

Well....what do you wanna hear? 2 rooms, study room, kitchen, bathroom, bathroom of death too (as said by Elder Gilliat)

Did you say transfers are this week?  Seems like they’re coming up soon.  It seems like time is speeding up, do you feel it??

Yep, the time is definitely speeding up. There's an Elder that's going home now, he said in his last zone meeting that it doesn't feel like he's going home, it feels like he's leaving it. He cried a lot too. The last time he followed up with me, I asked if there was anything I could do to help him, he just said "give me some of your time" I might could've cited that movie Time and said some smart remark but I just offered to ask the presidnet if I could give him a month of my mission haha.

What was your favorite scripture you read or studied this week?

I like 2 Nephi 26:24-28 that talks a bit about the nature of Christ and it's an open invite unto All  men to come unto Christ and to be saved.

I love you guys

Elder Horton

8-5-14 Hare Krishna

Hey family,

I enjoyed the letters and the pictures and the pictures from the beach, that looked like a pretty awesome experience and I did get a bit trunky but I'm already over it. It's funny sometimes I remember some things and I get a bit trunky but I don't stay trunky, which is a really good thing.

Unfortunately, my district did Not meet that goal and so I will not be giving them pizza today...buttt maybe I'll give them half a pizza. I told them that if they didn't use facebook today I'd buy them half a pizza. Elder Paulo accepted that but my companion is a bit more stubborn. He says he doesn't even use facebook to talk with people, he just uses facebook to play games. We'll see if they earn this pizza today.

This transfer in Pinda has been the transfer that I've most taken advantage of P-days. Every p-day we have done something and gone to some place. Today we went to the Hare Krishna temple. It was pretty cool. It was out in the sticks and it was very beautiful there. I'm sending some pictures as well. It was interesting to see. I learned some stuff about them too. We went there and we talked with someone who works at the lunch place and we were talking about the beliefs and a lot of their beliefs are 100% what we believe. They don't even drink coffee! They still believe in Jesus Christ and that he is our Savior and they follow his teachings which are in the bible. But the big difference is that they don't eat fish or meat and Krishna who they believe is God. They believe that he lived on the earth like 5000 years back and that he's still the father of Christ. It's interesting. He's blue too. And yellow, depending on the conditions. But we told them that we were missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints and they had already had some previous connections with missionaries and thought we were awesome and it was cool. I think another day we'll go back and bring some books of mormon :)

I feel like in our area, we're finally getting some momentum which is a good feeling. We have some good investigators with some good potential and we've picked a good area to work in to get new investigators. I'm excited for the future. We have 3 potentials to be baptized this week, a small family. It's possible but it'll require a good amount of their faith so we'll see but they're ready.

I hope dad gets feeling better, that's gotta be painful.

I finished the book of mormon in portuguese for the first time this past week! That made me happy. Now I've restarted it and I'm already almost to Mosiah.

Man, we had 2 lessons this last week that were pretty interesting. One of them was with a woman who refused to admit that prophets and apostles were something that God would always call even when I showed her scriptures saying exactly that. And the other one, the man refused to agree that there was only one true church of God even though I also showed him other scriptures proving that. In both cases, I tried to help them understand the error in their thinking by telling them that they don't understand the bible haha but the way I said it wasn't like joking it was serious. The brother from the church that was with me said that we have the power and authority to say things like that so I'm not sure if that was 100% the best thing I could've said but it was an interesting experience to say the least. Reminded me of Jacob 7:12 I believe.

So today is actually Tuesday now, I couldn't finish this letter yesterday because the internet stopped working! :( soo today, we've already had our zone meeting and that was one of the best ones yet just because of the improvements that will be made I think. One of the zone leaders said that this is the most obedient he has ever seen the mission and All of my district promised to obey All the rules, they're already deleting music and saying good bye to friends that they shouldn't be talking too online and planning on waking up early and other things. It's pretty awesome and it's cool that I can be a part of this change being their district Leader. I bought 2 of them half a pizza yesterday becasue they didn't use facebook. But the other Elder bought his own pizza because he used facebook haha but this week I'm doing a new thing. Every day that they wake up on time and work out is 50 cents for that elder for pizza. Not listening to music that isn't of the church is another 1 real and so is not using facebook. Summing up to 5 reais at the end of the week on p-day which I'll spend on pizza at night haha.

The church is true!

Elder Horton

 I showed off my flying skills at the temple

7-29-14 Campos do Jordao

7-29-14

Hey mom!

Yesterday, p-day, we went to Campos do Jordão which would be fields of Jordan. It was way cool there! The architecture was Swedish in style and it was cold! I could see my breath! Been a while since I've seen that. 

We had our zone meeting and district meeting at one of the sister's house who lives there. Sent some pictures.

We played soccer in a field that was kind of muddy and that was really funny because everyone was slipping. I slipped 2 times I think but I had changed clothes so I was in my jeans but Elder Gilliat, he didn't bring a change of clothes so he slipped in his church pants and it got all muddy! That was funny. But he cleaned it up later. My team won.

We ate estroganofe that a sister who lives there cooked up for all 22 of us and that was delicious.

We went to the turistic center at night and that was cool. There was a lot of chocoalte, we got some free samples but I didn't buy anything :( Mão de vaca, cow hand, hard to spend money. But I did see a all you can eat chocolate fondue for 50 reais which is like 25 dollars which I would Love to do. It was way cool there.

How was your week?

This week was the best week we've had yet as a companionship. I said that to one of the other elders here in the zone who is also majoring in chemical engineering and he asked me the following question "Qualitatively or quantitavely?" And I just laughed. Man I love nerds haha it's great. I responded "both." Later he made a joke about a pipette! He said that I'm one of the few people he feels comfortable around making that joke because others wouldn't understand or would just laugh at him but I deeply appreciated it and it was good to remember of the BYU days with chemical engineering.

I'm excited for this week, we have some awesome plans and so I'm excited to put them to practice.  

How is your teaching going?

The teaching is good, we're still looking for a lot of new investigators but this week will be really good for that. We’re going to work very close to a member's house so that way, in the future, he can help us.

How is your district? 

They're good, they're getting better every day. I offered them pizza if they could wake up every morning at 6:30 and exercise or stretch until next Monday. We'll see how they do.

When are the next transfers?

August 12th

Did anything special happen this week?  

That I can remember of the top of my head...I can't remember any experience in particular that was especially special

What made you happy this week? 

When I went to church and 1 of our investigators went despite her husband not wanting her to, that made me happy. And also seeing some less actives at church. Pizza also made me happy. Brasilean pizza is awesome.

Did you notice any tender mercies in your week?  

Same thing...that I remember, not particularly

What were your challenges?  

My companion has been a small challenge but he becomes less and less of a challenge every week. He has a problem with accepting correction. Like sometimes I can say something in a very nice, calm way and he defends himself like I'm calling him a fubeca haha sooo we're working on that, my training yesterday was actually a bit about that. Read some scriptures D+C101:5, 105:6, 136:31 that basically says that whoever can't or doesn't want to support correction, isn't worthy of kingdom of God. I did it without calling him out or burning any one but I left it very clear. Advantages of being district leader and doing trainings :)

Who do you hear from that you enjoy getting encouragement from - friends, family, missionaries, etc.

I like hearing from other missionaries like Sis. Tantillo, Sis Cork. I like reading Grandma's letters. Your letters of course as well. I like talking with Elder Campbell on the mission, the other tall, blonde American. I like the scriptures as well. Dad's little words of counsel are cool as well. There are probably some others as well that I can't think of right now.

My time is up and soooo I'm gonna go now but I love you guys and thanks for your prayers and letters and love!

The church is true!

Elder Horton

We were riding in a brother's really old car and it caught fire! 

I grabbed the extinguisher and helped put it out but it was really funny. 

I started to see the smoke and knowing it was an old car, 

I was about to ask, "is that normal?" I thought it was exhaust 

but then it grew and I knew it wasn't. Only in Brasil haha 

the seat in the back was pushed so far down that it sat 

on the battery terminals (which are next to each other and 

unprotected) and shorted it and thus the fire started.

Our District meeting. 

Andrew this one's for you you! Beautiful socks for beautiful people! 

I saw this sign and thought of you. In English too! What are the chances?

 I'm thinking about starting a snowglobe collection....am I crazy?