Pictures!

 

These are pictures of us eating ice cream from the ice cream man, celebrating my one year mark, and also us by a zebra head. Enjoy! Oh and the white egg things we're holding are these fossil things that we bought at Walmart that we thought would be cool. And they totally were.

 

Virginia is the Place for me!

 

My dear family and friends,

 

My new companion is Hermana McBride. She is from California. I love her so much already! We are already having so much fun. She speaks magnificent Spanish. I'm really excited for our time ahead together! I've already learned so much from her.

 

This week was SO GREAT. There is this lady who has been visiting our ward for a couple of months to take care of her son who broke his leg. She has also been taking care of her 11 year old granddaughter whose name is Vanessa. Hermana McRae and I went and had dinner with them about a month ago. On Easter, Vanessa came to church with her grandma. At the end, Vanessa came up to me and asked me for an English Book of Mormon. She also told me about the cool things that they learned in primary. She also shared how she said her first prayer out loud that day and she was just so excited about it. And her grandma told me how she wants to start taking the lessons from us, so we set up an appointment to go over that week. So we went over to their house and ate some delicious Peruvian food but we thought we were going to die because it was our second dinner that day. Anyways, we were talking during dinner and I cannot even believe how excited she is about the gospel. She expressed to us how she wants the gospel in her life so bad and she can't wait to be a member. I wish I could bottle up the feelings of love and of the Spirit that were felt while we were at their house. So we talked about baptism over dinner and we set her for May 31st!! She is so cute! Her grandma teaches her so much about the gospel and she remembers everything so well. When we started teaching about Joseph Smith, she said, "Oh Jose Smith! I know this one!" And then she tells us as much of the story as she remembers. While we were in that lesson I had one of those "This is why I am here" moments. This girl is one of the reasons that I am here in Virginia and why I am here in Woodbridge. I felt it so strongly. When we left, we were telling her that we loved her and she was just like, "You guys are real special for me." I just walked out with tears in my eyes. And then at church yesterday, the grandma told us through her tears that this would be her last week here and that she needed to return to Indiana. We can't even believe how fast we got attached to these people! There were lots of tears shed by everyone. But she told us that we had to take good care of Vanessa and I don't know how we wouldn't because we already love her so much! There is a tough road ahead for Vanessa but she is so special. The Lord knows her desires and will help her.

 

Sorry I spent so much time explaining that, but it was just one of the highlights of my mission!

 

So apparently when you play in sacrament meeting everyone and their dog wants you to play the piano for things. I played at a viewing and funeral for someone and also at a baptism. And then someone in the primary told me that she would like me to play the piano in primary sometimes. I think this is the Lord's way of getting back at me for not telling my seminary teachers that I could play the piano. Well, better late than never! But I am very grateful for the opportunity to share my talents.

 

I hope you all have a wonderful week! There are so many people here that pray for you. I hope you can feel it. I love you all!!

 

And now I close mine epistle. I am Hermana Horton.

 

More Pictures!!

A few more pictures with one of my favorite families ever! Love you all!

Pictures!

Included in these are:

-Hermana McRae wanting to take model shots of me

-The flowers and my obsession with them

-Our bishop with a mask

-Other random pictures

 

 

I'm one year old!

From:	Callie Horton (callie.horton@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Mon 4/21/14 8:58 AM

Hello family!

 

Well sad news... We got a call Saturday night from our mission president and he said that Hermana McRae would be moving because there is a temple square sister that is going back to temple square soon and he wants her to have a different experience before she goes home so he moved things around a couple weeks before transfers. So she left this morning and I am spending some time with some other sisters until my new companion arrives. It was a pretty sad call and a pretty sad parting, but the Lord knows best so that's what we will do! But she is going to be serving in Mechanicsville! You will definitely be meeting Hermana McRae someday. She has been a pretty huge blessing in my life. But I am excited for the adventures that lie ahead!

 

We were able to perform in sacrament meeting yesterday! Hermana McRae has an AMAZING voice, so she sang and I accompanied her on the piano. Yep, that's right. I played in sacrament meeting. I never thought I would. But it was great! We learned a song from the production called "Lamb of God" that I have just basically fallen in love with since my mission. It was really fun to learn a new song on the piano and we had a great time preparing for it. There is such an amazing spirit that comes from music. I have realized so much on my mission about how you can express your testimony through music. There is such a special power that comes from music.

 

I'm pretty sure I told you about the teenagers that we were teaching, but their names are Noelia and Amilcar. They are basically the greatest ever and are some of our most progressing investigators right now. It is CRAZY how much of a change we have seen since the first lesson that we had with them. I wouldn't say they have undying testimonies or anything yet, but they are letting the gospel change their lives and it is such a beautiful thing. They do all of the homework assignments that we have given them and they came to church yesterday for the first time! It was so great to have them there even though it was only for the first hour.

 

We also have this other investigator names Salvador who came to church yesterday for the first time too! He is this cute little old man from Guatemala. (That's right. The land of my people.) And he loved it! We didn't get a chance to talk to him after, but the member that took him home told us that he asked him if he would pick him up for church next week! What a blessing. We almost lost him as one of our investigators too because we went to his house Saturday evening and he wasn't there and his daughter answered and told us that he had moved to New York to stay with one of his other daughters. We were pretty bummed to say the least. So we got back in the car and we were debating on who we should go see that lives nearby. We decided on someone and said a prayer, but then after the prayer we felt we should go see someone different. So we started to drive and then we see Salvador pull into his street! So we hurry and pull over and run over to go talk to him. Turns out he isn't moving to New York or anything. So we reminded him about church and he is still an investigator! Wahoo! It was just such a miracle because if we would have done anything different or left any earlier, we would have missed him. The Lord is definitely watching out for Salvador!

 

I hope you all had a great Easter! I am SO extremely grateful for everything that I have learned about Jesus Christ since my mission. And I learned a lot this week about the hope that there is no end. If we do what we need to in this life, we will be able to live perfect and happy lives with our loving Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. And we can do it with our families. There is no greater blessing! This life is such a small part of eternity, but it is so extremely vital that we do all that we can while we're here. My mission has definitely affected the way that I will live the rest of my life. I can't believe it will be a year this week!! That is SOOO crazy. And scary.... But what a fabulous year that it has been! I am forever grateful. Well I love you all so much!! Stay cool and preach the gospel.

 

And now I close mine epistle. I am Hermana Horton.

 

A little piece of Virginia

From:	Callie Horton (callie.horton@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Mon 4/14/14 9:32 AM

Hola!

 

Looks like the warm weather has finally hit Virginia! (And will hopefully stay) It has been so good. Everyone just seems happier! We just kept having some really pretty days and then it would like snow again, but it looks like it will be warm for the most part now. (Hallelujah!) This winter was a long one for Virginians. Way for missionary work in warm weather!

 

So just to get the not so happy out of the way first, Corina still doesn't have a baptismal date. She ended up not being able to have a lesson last week so we weren't able to set it. She is still doing great though! Her boss told her that she couldn't have every Sunday off, but we are praying for a softened heart and a miracle!

 

So I'm pretty sure I mentioned a little bit about Sonya last week, but she was this lady that we found after a long day of knocking where everyone hadn't been all that nice to us. So when we met her, which was just such a huge tender mercy. And then she told us to call her Friday morning just to make sure that it was still ok if we came over. So we called her and no one answered so we left a message that basically said, "We're going to come over at 5 30! Call us if that's a problem!" We were pretty desperate to see her. So we didn't receive a call so we went on over! That day we had been doing a lot of knocking again and hadn't had too much of success. We went to her house just crossing our fingers that she would be there. And she was! That was the second time that she was a tender mercy for us. And we had one of the best first lessons ever. Her and her 2 kids were there listening and then her husband eventually came in and joined us. We felt like we should teach them about the plan of salvation which ended up being perfect because one of her sons had questions about Adam and Eve. It was just such a beautiful sight to see a cute little family there listening and trying to sincerely understand everything that we had said. They want to be more sure before they agree to be baptized, but they seem pretty golden to me!

 

I hope you are all praying for opportunities to share the gospel. They aren't going to come to us unless we are praying for them. There is this guy in our ward who is a really great missionary. His other friends that missionaries had tried teaching ended up not working out. He got up to bear his testimony yesterday and was talking about how he and his wife had just been praying so hard for missionary opportunities. One day he was at work and he was working with this guy on something. Out of nowhere the guy started asking him if he has to do anything to be a member of his church and things like that. The Lord presented him with this golden opportunity to share the gospel. That will ALWAYS happen if we are sincerely praying for them. The Lord has commanded us to share the gospel so we need to pray for those opportunities! There is no greater joy than sharing than the gospel. And it doesn't always present itself in a golden way like that, and people won't always say yes, but it will bring you joy and blessings 100% of the time.

 

As a mission we are spending the next 5 months studying about the doctrine of Christ. This month we are studying about faith. FAITH IS CRUCIAL. I hope you are all doing the little things every single day to strengthen your faith. A testimony comes through faith and even more importantly, true conversion comes through faith. But it all starts with our faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! He did it all. He suffered for everything and through Him we can be happy and receive strength through our trials. But we have to have faith in Him. We can't let His suffering be in vain. I am really grateful for the things that I have learned about faith. Everyone could always add some strength to their faith.

 

I hope you all have the best week ever! The Church is true! I love you all!!

 

And now I close mine epistle. I am Hermana Horton.

 

Un espiritu de esperanza‏

From:	Callie Horton (callie.horton@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Mon 4/07/14 10:20 AM

Hola mi familia y mis amigos!

 

First off, Virginia looks AMAZING right now! It has exploded with flowers. It is absolutely amazing! I just want to take a picture of them all because there are so many different kinds and they are all so pretty! I will try to take some more pictures this week of them so that you can share in the beauty that is happening here! Prepare to be amazed.

 

Something cool we found out this last week is that a member of the quorum of the twelve is coming to visit our mission at the beginning of next month! And we're combining with the Chesapeake Bay mission! So that means that I will get to see the one and only Rachael Harrison!!! So I am definitely looking forward to that!

 

Conference was AMAZING!! Oh jeez. I loved it. But how could you not love it? All of the talks were given with such humility and love. It was impossible to not feel the Spirit. I loved Elder Holland's talk! Holy cow! When he pointed at the camera and was just baring such strong testimony I was just like, "Yeah, you tell 'em Elder Holland!" It was super powerful. I also loved Gary E. Stevenson’s (I think that's his name) talk. I thought it was so cool everything that he shared about the Olympics. I especially loved that story about the snow boarder who just held her opponent tight until she calmed down. And I love how she said, "I want my competitors to do their best too." That is so cool! Sometimes we spend so much time trying to be better than others when really we should just spend time doing our best and helping others do their best too. And of course, President Uchtdorf's talk was amazing! There's nothing I love more than the topic of gratitude. He put it well. We should definitely count our blessings, but we should live our lives in an overall spirit of gratitude. And I honestly believe that with that, you will be able to count so many blessings no matter what is going on in your life. All of the talks were just so good!! I loved how much they talked about Christ and His life. And also how much they talked about the pure love of Christ, and standing up for what we believe in.

 

This past week was great!! So Corina is just so ready for baptism, but she kept saying something about being baptized in the summer and we just thought that that was too far away. So we were fasting and praying lately that she would set the day of April 26 for her baptism. We knew that she could do it. So while we were fasting I just kept thinking about how it could be sooner, but I just thought that I was creating those thoughts because that's what I wanted. So we go to have our next lesson with her and we bring up baptism and we were just talking about how ready we knew she was, and Hermana McRae just bore such strong testimony about how she could see her dressed in white. And what does she say? "Well, ok I probably can't be baptized next week, but the week after sounds good!" Something along those lines. I was shocked! So we have a lesson with her tonight and we are going to set the date! We were just so excited that when we got home we just jumped around and hugged haha. So it looks like it will be sooner than the 26th!

 

We had this day this week where a lot of people weren't all that nice to us. I haven't had so many people be mean to us in just one day! It was crazy. So after this one door this lady came out and got really mad at us and after I was just thinking about how sick I was of people not listening to us. It was kind of making me discouraged. A couple of houses later, we were standing on a doorstep and I was just thinking about how sick I was of the people that day and we received our miracle. A cute lady named Sona answers the door and says that she wants us to come back and teach her family. She was so sincere and was excited for us to go teach her kids. That was a huge testimony builder to me that we should always keep looking because the 'one' is out there. We should never give up because we are discouraged or anything or else we might not find the person that the Lord has prepared. It definitely made everything that had happened before that not seem so bad. The Lord is always watching out for us. He helps us to keep going even when it seems that no success will happen. There is always something to be hopeful about in every day.

 

Well I hope that you all have a marvelous week! Don't forget to be grateful! I love you!!

 

And now I close mine epistle. I am Hermana Horton.

 

PS for those that don't know, the title of my email means 'a spirit of hope'