Life is good. Mission life is better.

Life is good. Mission life is better.

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From:	Callie Horton (callie.horton@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Mon 6/30/14 9:24 AM

Hey all you out there!

 

I hope you all had a great week! So it looks like my release date is going to be October 23. I just balled when I opened the email, but no big deal. It’s ok though, there's still lots of time. It just like got real for a second though. You guys are just planning on picking me up at the airport, right? 

 

This week was SO BUSY. Probably one of the busiest on my mission. It was so great! But I was so unbelievably tired yesterday. And then I got some weird bug in the middle of the night, but I'm doing a little better now. But we just had so much going on and every hour of the day. I also gave my first talk in a Spanish ward yesterday! I had given my testimony and said prayers and stuff in sacrament meeting in the Spanish ward before, but this was the first time that I gave a talk.

 

We found this awesome new investigator this week! Her name is Dinora. We taught her about the restoration in our lesson with her, and she loved it! And she agreed to be baptized! It was such a sweet experience to see how great she was for the message that we shared. She works at a bakery and she said that she's going to bring us a cake next time we come! Ha-ha. She was just the cutest thing. I always feel so blessed when we find investigators like that that are just so ready in the very first lesson.

 

And another tender mercy, I saw Veronica outside of our new investigators house! She was one of my investigators in Mechanicsville who I just adored so much. She been taught for a while now and still isn't making any baptismal commitments, but I heard that the Hermanas there made a huge breakthrough with her recently! So we will keep our fingers crossed.

 

There are just so many people here that are so ready for the gospel. A lot of people in this area live in really humble circumstances. Definitely the most humble I've seen on my mission. A lot of times when people live in such humble circumstances they accept the gospel faster in their lives.

 

We have a couple of people that are preparing for baptism right now! One is this old guy Juan. He is getting over his coffee addiction and will be baptized on July 12. The other is this way cute girl named Lizeth who will be baptized on July 26. They are both so excited and ready to accept the gospel into their lives. Seeing people embrace this gospel is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

 

I hope you all have the best week ever!! I love you all so much!!

 

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

Pictures

 

Hermana Chambers and I and the other one is of us and one of the sisters we live with!

 

 

Chambers and Horton are back together

Chambers and Horton are back together

From:	Callie Horton (callie.horton@myldsmail.net
Sent:	Mon 6/23/14 11:43 AM

Dearest family!

 

GREAT news! Hermana Chambers and I are companions again!!!!!! What a huge blessing!! We were so so excited when we found out. President Wilson even got choked up when he announced our names at transfer meeting because he knew how bad we wanted to be companions again. We have been begging him to put us back together since we were companions before. The Lord must really love us. I just feel so blessed! We are serving in Chesterfield. So I am in the first ward that I served in, but just a different area. The work here is AMAZING. There is so much work here. We are so busy and it is so great! There were a couple of days last week where I was just so tired at the end of the day because we just worked so hard all day. It is so cool to see how Hermana Chambers and I have grown since we were companions. It’s hard to believe it’s been almost a year since we were companions before. There are just so many people here prepared to hear the gospel.

 

We had a really cool experience on Sunday. We were about to walk into this trailer park when this little Hispanic man pulled up and said, "Sisters!" We started asking him if he was a member and he said that he wasn't, but that he had some friends that were members. He said that his wife died 3 years ago and he has just felt so much guilt ever since and he doesn't really know what to do about it. He just said that there was always something about our church, but he wasn't sure what it was. He asked for the address to the church so of course we gave it to him! We tried to set up an appointment with him, but he said that he wants to come to church soon, but we'll see if we can change that. It was just a crazy the chain of events that led us to that moment. We weren't even planning to be arriving at that trailer park at that time, but everything worked out so perfectly so that we arrived there at that moment when he was pulling out. And it turns out he doesn't even live there. Nothing even really worked out in that trailer park, but we just knew that we were supposed to be there at that time so that we could meet him. The Lord has been so good to us!

 

I'm still trying to get to know all of the people here, but they are all really great. And it was really fun to be back in the Chesterfield Spanish ward again. Its crazy how much can change in just one year. I am really happy to be back here serving with Hermana Chambers. Lots of good times ahead! I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you!

 

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

 

Pictures!

 

 

Most of these pictures are from church yesterday with some of the members or after church with the members that we eat dinner with every Sunday. And we also went to a cool marine museum last week with a couple of sisters! And then there is one from Vanessa's baptism. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Adios Woodbridge

Adios Woodbridge

From:	Callie Horton (callie.horton@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Mon 6/16/14 9:46 AM

My dear family and friends!

 

Well, that sad time has come again where I will be getting transferred. And even sadder, Hermana McBride is getting transferred too. So there will be 2 new hermanas coming into our area behind us. We have been stressing a lot since we got the calls to get everything ready for the new hermanas. This is a pretty sad transfer. I have loved my time is Woodbridge SO much. I have grown so much since I have been here. Saying goodbye to the ward yesterday was pretty hard for the both of us. I have never felt so loved so fast by so many people. And I have loved serving with Hermana McBride soo much! I love that I have been able to meet some of my bestest friends on the mission. I just feel so blessed. I will surely miss my time here. And I have also been called to be a Sister Training Leader. It’s like a sister zone leader kind of. I'm excited but nervous because I feel so inadequate for the job, but the Lord has called me so He will help me!

 

So Vanessa is baptized!! YAY!! It was such a beautiful baptism, but holy cow one of the most stressful days ever. Everything started kind of falling apart last minute, but with the help of the Lord, we got it all worked out. Satan was trying real hard to pull us down and not enjoy the day, but its ok because Vanessa was so happy and her happiness made us so happy and made the stress all worth it. Vanessa told us a couple of days before her baptism that her dad wasn't going to be able to come unless we moved the time to that evening, which was sad because we moved the baptism date just so that he could be there. We couldn't move it because there was already a baptism of another ward going on at that time and we had already planned everything for the morning. She was pretty sad about it and so were we. So we were just praying so hard that her dad would somehow be able to make it, and then we got a call from Vanessa Saturday morning and she said that he would be able to come! It was such a huge tender mercy. Everything worked out perfectly in the end. And now she is a member of the Church and nothing brings me more joy than knowing that.

 

We had another really cool experience that day too. We were fasting to know how we could help our investigator Corina because she knows it’s true and she wants to be baptized, but she has kind of lost the flame and won't set a date and we haven't been able to see her lately and she hasn't been coming to church. So we were fasting and it was seriously a trial of our faith a couple of times because of how stressful that day had been. And then that day we were eating dinner at the bishop's house and the Elders were coming to eat there after us so they showed up while we were finishing up eating. The Elders were talking to the Bishop about this one member in the ward, and they said, "Yeah, he is so great. If there is someone that won't set a baptismal date you definitely need to bring him." And then this light bulb just went off at the same time in mine and Hermana McBride's head. So we just looked at each other and starting tearing up because we knew that Heavenly Father had just answered our prayers. I have the strongest testimony of fasting. It works every time. Fasting has helped me soo much on my mission. The Lord ALWAYS blesses us when we make sacrifices.

 

I have seemed to collect a lot of stuff on my mission so I will be sending home a couple of boxes today. Just put them on my bed and I'll go through them when I get home.

 

I hope you have the best week ever! Remember that I love you! Adios amigos!

 

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

 

Pictures

We got to go to Leesylvania park again! We went with all of the sisters in the zone. It was so fun! And they let us put our feet in the water :)

And the little kids are our ward mission leaders kids. They are some of the cutest ever.

 

 

This week's letter

HEY! THE GOSPEL IS TRUE!

From:	Callie Horton (callie.horton@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Mon 6/09/14 9:03 AM

Hola familia!

 

All I have to say is that I love Hispanics so much. We have some of the cutest experiences ever with members of our ward. Recently we were eating breakfast with one of the members and then we helped her move some stuff. She had been talking with us in Spanish the whole entire time and then as we're walking out the door she yells to us in her super thick Hispanic accent," "I love you too much!" And there is this member in our ward that we eat lunch with every single week. She is already one of my most favorite people ever, and then we were at her house the other day and we were talking about this experience we had and she just gets up and says that she has the perfect song for them. She comes back with the lyrics to a Child's Prayer and she sings the whole thing in English with her think adorable Hispanic accent. We wanted to cry it was so cute. Moral of the story: Hispanics are so adorable. I love these people.

 

Vanessa is still on board to get baptized this Saturday! Her interview was yesterday and it went great. She is so ready and so excited. She will also be baptized with an investigator of some of the Elders in our ward so it will be a special day for everyone. We are really so excited. I love that little chica so much. I hope you all get to meet her someday.

 

Noelia and Amilcar are still doing great! They just are really getting a light in their faces. It is so cool to see. Noelia came to church yesterday by herself because her little brother couldn't. We've been wondering who Noelia would make good friends with in Young Women's, but we weren't quite sure yet. There is this other girl who just recently started investigating the church after some members brought her. They are the same age and then yesterday at church they just became such good friends! When the other girl was leaving she just said, "See you on Wednesday?" And Noelia just said, "Yeah. See you Wednesday!" So they will both be going to girls’ camp and they will be able to help each other out on their journey into the church.

 

There was this one day where we called Noelia and Amilcar, and Amilcar answered. After a couple seconds of talking he just said, "Guys I have to tell you something!" He then goes on to tell us how at school that day he had to take a big test, but he was feeling so tired and he didn't know why. So he said that he prayed to help him feel better. And then within 5 minutes of the test he felt awake. And then after he told us the story he just says, "Maybe God really is there!" That was such a tender mercy! We are just so happy that he was able to recognize the answer to his prayer. Because of that simple little thing, he is starting to know God more. Even the littlest of prayers get answered.

 

Have I told you lately that the gospel is true? Because it is. We were knocking yesterday and I had said a little schpeel about forever families or something like that and the guy at the door said, "You really believe that?" And I really did. After that I was just kind of thinking about it and I knew that I really did believe it. Actually, I knew it was true. This gospel brings so much happiness that there is just no way that it’s not true. I hope you all have a fabulous week! Go share the gospel!!  I love you!!

 

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

 

  

Last week's letter

"There can be miracles when you believe" -Prince of Egypt

From:	Callie Horton (callie.horton@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Mon 6/02/14 9:04 AM

Hey you guys! (Like the guy from The Goonies)

 

I just have so much to say about the gloriousness of this last week, but alas, time will only let me say the highlights. But it really was such a great week! I know that it all happened because Hermana McBride and I are trying to change and polish ourselves into who Heavenly Father wants us to be. And with that, we received so many blessings.

 

First off, Noelia and Amilcar have a baptismal date!! They will be baptized on July 12. We asked them recently to be baptized on June 14 and after they prayed about it, they felt that they needed more time. So then the next lesson we invited them to pray about being baptized on July 12. When we went to the next lesson we asked them if they had prayed about that date and they said that it they're not even sure if they have to pray about it because it just feels so right. Yay! They just seemed so happy. It has been so cool to see the change in them since we very first started teaching them. And Noelia wants to go to girls’ camp! We were talking to the YW leaders yesterday at church about signing her up and they just jumped right on it. She will need a ride to YW every week and the YW president said that she will find her a ride every week and everything. We are so excited!!

 

Yesterday we had such a great little miracle. We were in our new golden trailer park after we had this great lesson. We were going to our next appointment and there was this guy sitting on his porch and I had the feeling that we should talk to him, but I ignored it. We went to our next appointment and they weren't there. So we went and tried to see a couple other people that we had met before and we didn't have success. We were walking down the street and trying to decide if we should knock or move on to the next thing we had planned (we really didn't want to knock..) And there was the guy on his doorstep again and I knew if I thought about it too much I wouldn't go talk to him so I just said, "I don't know what we should do but I'm just going to hurry and give this guy something real fast." So we went to go talk to him and we come to find out that he doesn't really know anything about God. I asked him if we could give him a pamphlet, but when I reached in my bag, I felt we should give him a Book of Mormon. So I gave him one and we ask him when we can teach him and we find out that he is locked out of the house so we're just thinking, "Sweet!" So we ask him if we can teach him right then and he agrees. So I sit on one of those lawn chairs that are like on the ground practically and Hermana McBride sits on the ground. We taught a great lesson, got eaten alive by bugs, and we helped him understand a little bit more about who God is. I felt like such a missionary. And even though there was loud Hispanic music coming from the trailer next door, some kid down the street practicing his trombone outside, and someone drilling in the ground not too far away, the Spirit was so strong and we barely even noticed those things. And now we have a return appointment and he agreed to be baptized when he knows these things are true. His name is Alfredo. We just felt so blessed. The Lord always blesses us for our efforts.

 

There was a lady that I talked about last week who was way awesome but is going to Mexico for a little while. She has to go there because of her visa and everything. So we decided that to decorate her door with hearts and leave her cookies before she goes. After we did that, she called us and she said that she wants us to come over before she leaves. So we got to go have one more lesson with her! And we found out that she will probably only be there until July instead of September!! I don't know how we were able to establish such a strong relationship so fast with her, but I am positive that she really will call us when she comes back. Cookies really do soften the hearts of the people!

 

Well I hope you have a great week! The gospel is so true. It just brings so much happiness that you just can't deny it once it gets a hold of you. I love this work so much!! Now go out and share it with your brothers and sisters! I love you!

 

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