week 64

¡hola a todos! 

i want to start off this email by thanking everyone who loves and supports me. you have no idea how much i appreciate it! i am so grateful. i am especially grateful for the many blessings my Heavenly Father has poured down upon me. for the knowledge that Jesus Christ knows and loves me perfectly. that is something i am so so grateful for everyday.

this week was pretty challenging for me personally... President Clayton could tell i was suffering pretty bad with my tailbone at MLC this week and we really decided to take action... which has been so hard for me. something i realllyyyyyy don't want to have to deal with on my mission!! or ever again in my life really haha. anyways, even after Xrays there has yet to be answers... which i expected. they did give me pain killers which are crazy strong. haha they TOTALLY knocked me out on the subway to our appointment!!! the person Hna Sandorf was talking to was like... is she okay? hahaha oh man. too good. everything happens for a reason, and everything will be okay, because i know Heavenly Father is watching over me. and i KNOW that Christ does understand me. perfectly. He knows what it's like to not be able to sit :) i'm grateful for Him. i am learning what it truly means to trust in the Lord. especially in God's timing. 

we have continued to see wonderful miracles here! best news ever -- Martine passed his baptismal interview! which means he will be getting baptized on Sunday! woooo hoo! excited for him. we showed him parts of Meet the Mormons and he loved it. he is very excited to be baptized :)

Leonardo is another miracle... i talked about him last week, but man he is so great! he came to church yesterday and really enjoyed it. when we visited him this week, he told us he had decided that morning that he was going to be baptized and become a member. "¡si, yo decidí!" sooooo cool. he's great!

i spoke in church yesterday. my first full talk in Spanish. crazy eh? it was a missionary Sunday, so i spoke on member missionary work. which was great because it's exactly what our mission is focusing on right now! WE ARE ONE!!! i cried as i shared of experiences in the mission where i am so grateful for members, when they open their mouths and share the Gospel and have truly partnered with us in this great work. many members were touched. i am so glad they felt the Spirit. 

i know that Christ truly is the Prince of Peace. "...Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, whosoever will come, Him will i receive; and blessed are those who come unto me."  3 Nephi 9:14

con amor, hermana horton

week 63

we had a great week! we have still been super busy which i love. i love when the Lord puts us to work :) our mission is changing! we are applying and learning new things, to become a full force member-missionary proselyting program. which is going to be awesome, because that work is what helps people stay active in the Gospel. a friend for those investigating the church makes all the difference... and its so much better if the friend is the one who introduces them to the church! i'm loving applying everything. it's really making us do things differently but it's what the Lord wants and what our mission needs.

coolest miracle of the week was on exchanges on Tuesday. a new sister, Sister Meleisea came to our area with me. we went and visited a less active, Francisca. she is 86 and the only reason she can't come to church is because of her health. when we got there... we did the round up :) which simply means we invited everyone in the house to join the lesson! her son Leonardo was home and gladly joined us. we switched around the whole lesson and taught the Restoration because he joined! i felt bad... because they hardly spoke any English. i was translating a lot so Sister Meleisea could teach as well, but it was so cool because mid way through the lesson, she just finished what i was teaching... i looked at her and i was like... what the heck how did you understand that. hahaha the gift of tongues is real kids!!! SO COOL! Leonardo told us he had been to church a few times with his mom and when we asked him if he believed its true he said YES! Sister Meleisea invited him to be baptized, and he committed to prepare. gotta get him to the Temple!

i also went on exchanges with the Chinese sisters which was awesome. Sister Liao is so cute! language work is fun. i had to apply the gift of tongues there too haha :) 

MARTINE CAME TO CHURCH!!!! such a miracle! we have been working with him since i got here... and he has been progressing so well, just has been really nervous about coming to church. which is definitely necessary. he finally came yesterday and is preparing to be baptized! i'm so excited for him. he might have to get baptized in the English ward because he definitely has been white washed by coming to Canada. meaning he barely speaks Spanish now haha. but he is awesome.

we've been doing all we can to work with more and more less actives to get them to the Temple. i was so happy in church yesterday because the chapel looked so much more FULL than previous weeks. commitment to living the Gospel and making it a part of who we are is so important. the Gospel has changed my life. i know what it means and how important it is to ALWAYS put Jesus Christ first. this work is incredible!

con mucho amor, hermana horton

week 62

this week was absolutely incredible. all because of yesterday. seriously it was just absolutely amazing. seeing that beautiful family be baptized was one of the greatest things i have ever seen. aren't they amazing?

the baptismal service was so great. Yuri and Teri were both so happy,as were the little girls. when Teri was baptized, the spirit just FILLED the room. and when he came out of the water little Tyra said "wow that was beautiful!" awwwwwwww. Yuri (the wife/mom) bore her testimony after about how her prayers have been answered... how she has hoped and dreamed for this since she got married and how happy she was. we were all crying so much! this family is going to be eternal! next step.... the temple. i love the Sabado family so so so much!! that, is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. that, is missionary work.

here is another huge miracle of the week! so we were really struggling to find this week... we have been meeting with a TON of less actives in the ward to help strengthen the ward and bring back some members... which has been really great!! we have a returning member named Shalom who is preparing to go to the temple on September 5! woo! i know the Lord is just as happy when we have people get to the temple, as He is when we help people enter into the waters of baptism. anyways, so we were struggling to find new, and Saturday night comes... we had so many appointments! so we decided to go on splits. which i love doing. anyways, Hermana Sandorf and Diana (a ward missionary) found a new investigator named Justin... then Sunday after church we didn't have much proselyting time (about an hour before our lesson with the Castro's) but the first bus we hop on there was a young guy on the phone... didn't look too Spanish but we talked to him once we got off. he knows a TON about the church and has been going in Spain since he was 16. he is SO PREPARED! he told us he has no idea why he never got baptized... he went to the bishop and asked to serve a mission but remembered he never got baptized haha. funny huh? he's way cool. can't wait to teach him.

anyways, we're finding tons of miracles, teaching lots of amazing people, and helping people to progress. i am LOVING every minute of every day right now... i seriously am in love with the mission! even with all my random and annoying health problems, i am loving every single day. this work is real and true and i love it. i love Jesus Christ. i know He lives. 

xoxoxoxo, hermana horton

week 61

​hola familia! y mis queridos amigos. this week was pretty chalk full of meetings. we had 2 8-10 hour meetings, and 1 that was about 5 hours. we had a very limited amount of proselyting time but we made the best of it and were still able to teach a LOT of lessons! which was awesome. our investigators are slowly progressing. we are now teaching a part member family again that i taught for the full 6 months i was in Toronto last year, the Castros. they are slow to progress and keep commitments, but they are a wonderful family and we are going to see what we can do to help them become an eternal family :)

President Clayton is a very inspired man. i heard the same instruction for the work of salvation for our mission 3 times in a row this week, and i was super grateful for it, because this mission is changing!!! ​we are now implementing more of a member missionary work proselyting program (something we have been trying to do all year... ) but the area 70 has given us an amazing promise if we do so. he said that if we go about teaching, teaching and teaching (members, investigators, returning members, and new converts) that "the Lord will place people in your path that you wouldn't have been able to find otherwise." i really do know that this is from the Lord. that it is HIS vision! i really felt that. (by the 3rd meeting :) just kidding) it will be amazing though. lots of little changes are occuring, and i am so excited to see the fruits from it! i testify, that in this work WE ARE ONE! family and friends, this work is the Lord's work. and we are so blessed to be a part of it,together. watch this video this week! and apply what President Monson has taught us "now is the time!" https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-06-001-we-are-one?lang=eng

man i learned so much this week. i love the Lord. i love that i get to labor alongside Him. i love that He loves us each personally and perfectly. i love that He has given everything for US. 

miracle of the week: we have a ton of food thanks to my mom AND we have dinner appointments. God is good :) no the real miracle of the week is the fact that the Sabado family passed their baptismal interview and are getting baptized next week!!!! WOOOOO!!

have an amazing week! although i don't get the chance to write you each personally, i love each one of you and i am so grateful for the love and support and prayers i receive from home. i love you! 

con mucho amor, hermana horton

week 60

hola hola! this week has been challenging and long, but we have seen a lot of miracles as well. my new companion is Hermana Sandorf, she is also from Utah. we came out together as well! we are "whitewashing" into Christie East which in mission vocab means we are both ​new to the area..... which means the area needs saving and strengthening! we walked in to just 1 investigator but he does have a baptismal date! we have been in solid finding mode this week. talking to lots of people and hunting down the Spanish :) i have been in Toronto for most of my mission now, (i love it!!!) and because i came into this ward a year ago at this time... i feel like a brand new baby missionary again! so weird cause i feel like a whole new person now. its crazy how fast time flies, and how much you can change while in the service of the Lord. i truly love Him. i have felt so comforted this week, i know He never leaves my side. i'm so grateful that He understands me perfectly. i love Jesus Christ. 

Martin is the biggest miracle of the week - our investigator who is preparing for baptism. we met him finally on Saturday and followed up with the Word of Wisdom... and he wants to quit so bad! he just kept saying "i don't want to do these things anymore. i want to find that piece that is missing in my life. i want to be closer to God." he is awesome. he received a priesthood blessing last night from our WML... and we are praying he quits everything this Friday and comes to church! another awesome part of the week was when Timothy got baptized! i am so happy for him :)

something i have learned this week is how much we depend on God in this work. i really know that it is His. i have fallen to my knees a lot this week for guidance, and i know it has worked because i know we have been in places where He has needed us to be. following the Spirit is so key as a missionary! 

im really really REALLY loving the mission right now! even on the hard and long and tiring and sweaty days, i love being here. i love every minute of it.

con mucho amor, hermana horton