Callie's Mission: July 2014

Monday, July 28, 2014

Pictures

-We went to the zoo last P day! (The camel picture is for you Mom.)

-We celebrated Christmas in July with the sisters we live with

-We found a frog in our house and a turtle in our driveway. The house we live in is full of weird creatures.

-We had a pioneer activity with a couple other wards and the little kid in the middle is in our ward and he is the cutest thing ever!

So sad news... Hermana Chambers is getting transferred. We can't believe we only had one transfer together! It was pretty unexpected, but it’s ok because the Lord has a plan! New adventures lie ahead. These past 6 weeks were probably the fastest of my whole life. Did it feel like that for everybody?? It’s just crazy how fast time is flying!

Ever sadder news... I can't have dairy... Ever since I've been sick my body hasn't been reacting very well to dairy. It’s basically the saddest thing ever considering that milk and cheese are like my 2 favorite things. I have eaten like cookies and pancakes and my body is ok with that, but like straight cheese or milk or cream or anything is a no go. The mission nurse thinks that it is my body's reaction to stress and that I should be able to eat all of the milk and cheese that I want when I get home. (Let's all cross our fingers!!) It’s just weird because emotionally I feel fine, but apparently my body hates me. But it’s ok because one of the sisters I live with can't have dairy so we're going to do it together.

We were so blessed this week! It’s been a little bit of a struggle to find new investigators lately. Not last week, but the week before, we made a goal to pray every single day for 5 new investigators that week. Unfortunately it didn't happen, but we were feeling really hopeful and so we did the same thing this past week, but for 6 new investigators. By Wednesday evening, we had already received our 6 new investigators. What a blessing! The Lord seriously loves us. It just really goes to show that 1. The Lord does everything in His own time and 2. That He always blesses us when we walk with faith.

So Dad asked a little bit about what some of the duties of a Sister Training Leader are. We are over the sisters and hermanas in our zone and we go on exchanges with them at least once a transfer, we also might study with them, plan with them, find with them, or do whatever it is that they need help with in their areas. We also give trainings at zone meetings and wherever else President wants us to train at. There are also certain things that we give permission for. It’s been really fun! It’s hard sometimes because a lot of the sisters in the zone are going through a lot and it’s even harder when there is drama in a companionship, but I've learned a lot! The Lord has definitely blessed me with His help. We also get to go on exchanges with the Mechanicsville hermanas because they are in the zone next to ours and their sister training leaders are English sisters. So last week I got to go with Hermana McRae in Mechanicsville! It was so much fun. And I got to see a couple of the members that I knew and loved. It made me realize how much I missed it there.

Last night I finished my gratitude journal. I've been writing in that thing for about 3 years. It was so sad to finish it, but I'm excited to start my new one! That thing has seriously helped me so much. Gratitude is crucial to a happy life. It has helped me on those really hard days to take a step back and look at the good things that happened. There is ALWAYS something good that happens during the day. The Lord has given us so much and we need to be sure that we recognize that. But even more important, we need to have a spirit of gratitude, not just count our blessings, like President Uchtdorf said.

Well I hope you all have a great week! Make it the best ever! I love you!

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

Monday, July 21, 2014

Pictures!

These pictures are from Juan's baptism! And also the other day we had a lesson in the morning and then it fell through so we went and found this playground and decided to do companionship study there! It was lots of fun. I love being a missionary.

Oh and the one with the street sign says "Horton Court" on it. We were on exchanges that day.

Happy Pioneer Day

From:	Callie Horton (callie.horton@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Mon 7/21/14 8:52 AM

Hola hola!

Juan was baptized!!! We were just praying so hard that he would be able to be baptized this weekend. Juan was actually supposed to be baptized the Sunday before I came to this area, but because of coffee, the Elder giving him the interview didn't feel that he was quite ready. Even though it was a pretty sad thing in the moment, he has grown so much more since then and has left coffee! We were just afraid that if he didn't make this date that he would lose his excitement to be baptized and everything, but he made it! We had a lesson with him last Tuesday and he wasn't completely sure if he was going to be able to be baptized on Saturday, but he said that he would call us on Thursday and let us know how he felt. So he called us Thursday and he said he was ready! So we had the interview the next day and we finalized all of the plans for his baptism. And then the baptism was so great. There was a really sweet spirit there. Juan was just so ready and had been so humbled on his path to baptism. And he was SO happy. After he received the Holy Ghost yesterday, he was beaming. He also bore his testimony at his baptism which was really sweet. He just talked about how happy he was and how he was so grateful to have another family. The ward has done a really great job at making him feel a part of our giant Chesterfield family.

Our investigator Lizeth took herself off date which is sad, but it’s ok. She just feels really pressured right now and she isn't sure which church is right for her or if she'll be able to live all of the commandments. We have already made some great plans though to get her back on track. She is really one of the most mature 13 year olds that I have ever met, but we know that she is ready for this gospel. So we will keep working with her!

This past week we were walking into our first lesson with a new investigator and all of the sudden Hermana Chambers’s jumps so high and points out that there is this real parrot sitting on the couch. After that the bird starting flying around eventually landed on her head. She tried to duck and avoid it, but it still made it onto her head. So we sat on the couch while the bird was still on her head. The next couple minutes were full of me with tears on my eyes from trying not to laugh too hard and the bird landing on both of us. We were trying to have a serious conversation with a lady and tell her about the gospel while there was this bird on our heads. It also bit my finger during the prayer, tried to eat the buttons on my skirt, and me and the bird also had a battle with the pamphlet about the Restoration. It was pretty funny. Crazy things like that during lessons are seriously the best.

I love this gospel with all of my heart. It seriously makes so much sense and brings me so much joy. People may spend so much time trying to prove us wrong, but something that brings this much happiness is definitely true. I know that Jesus lives and that he is the Savior of the world. I am out here because I love my Savior and my Father. This work is hard, but it is worth fighting for them. Everything about Joseph Smith and the Restoration of the gospel are true. I am so grateful for the light that the gospel has brought into my life.

I hope you all have a fabulous week! I love you!!

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

Monday, July 14, 2014

Pictures!

Here are pictures from the 4th of July that I forgot to send last week! The darker ones are of us trying to catch fireflies with the Sisters we live with.

Anything is possible if you just believe

From:	Callie Horton (callie.horton@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Mon 7/14/14 8:58 AM

My dear family and friends!

Well I think Hermana Chambers and I are finally getting better! My poor companion has been suffering from a headache for forever, but we went to two doctors last week and the second one gave her some medicine that we are pretty sure is working. Yay! And who knows what my problem has been, but I think it is officially going away. Its been a weird sickness. There is apparently some weird virus going around that lasts for a long time. It has honestly been a trial because I haven't felt as good as I want to. And even though I couldn't have Mom there to use her magic touch and make everything better, the Lord comforted me and I have definitely been able to feel of His love for me.

Juan unfortunately wasn't baptized this past Saturday, but its ok because he has made so much progress! We went to go have a lesson with him last Tuesday and at the beginning he basically had the attitude that leaving coffee is practically impossible. We were not about to let him think that because we know that he can do it. So we had a good chat about trusting in yourself and trusting in the Lord and then we made a plan with him. We made a little chart and he was going to drink less coffee every day and by the 16th, leave it completely. And we wrote down some of the things that he can do if he gets tempted to drink coffee. We went by on Thursday and he had only drank coffee once in between lessons! And then he called us Saturday and he starts out the phone call with, "Don't cry..." We were pretty confused and then he told us how he hadn't drank any coffee since our last lesson! He's such a funny little man. And then he calls us on Sunday and tells us that he still hadn't drank any coffee, but that his head hurt so bad that he couldn't come to church. We called him later to see how he was doing and he had drank a little bit of coffee. But he went 3 whole days! We're pretty proud of our little Juan. Right now he is set to be baptized this Saturday and we have so much faith in him. He CAN do it. But keep him in your prayers!

There has been more of a focus lately to tell people about family history work, even when we're tracting. They have changed some things in missionary work and we are now to teach lesson 5 in Preach My Gospel before baptism instead of just after baptism. So we have been teaching a lot of people about temples and family history work. It has been so cool! Even though I don't get to do much family history work here on my mission, my testimony of it has grown so much. Family history work is seriously crucial! It is just as much missionary work as knocking doors is. Even though I know that so much of our families work has been done, I'm excited to be able to try to find those haven't been found yet, or just do whatever I can with family history work. And it is so special that we get to do that sacred work in the temples.

This week is going to be a good one, so make it count! I love you all so much!!

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

Monday, July 7, 2014

We are now the Lord's missionaries

From:	Callie Horton (callie.horton@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Mon 7/07/14 8:46 AM

Hola hola!

This was a very physically hard week. I had some weird stomach thing that I just couldn't seem to get better from and Hermana Chambers has been struggling with a migraine. But we made it! And I am finally feeling better and we are going to the doctors today for her. But we definitely still worked hard. We had to take it slow, but we did our very best and pushed ourselves as much as we could. Heavenly Father really helped us. He tested us, but He also helped us.

Members are seriously one of the best tools that we have in missionary work! We had this super great/awkward experience with this member the other day. She is seriously a rock star. We called her to come to a lesson and she came and she also brought her newborn baby and her teenage daughter. She just hauled around a car seat the whole time. All I was thinking the whole time was, "If she can do it than anyone can!" We went to our lesson and they weren't there. We tried a couple other people that lived around there, but no luck. We didn't want to make her knock while carrying a baby car seat so we just thought that we would get in the car and take her back to her car. But right when we get in the car she asks who else we can go visit! What a gem. So we start off to visit someone else and there is this Hispanic walking and she just says, "There's a Hispanic! Go talk to her!" So we're just kind of laughing on the inside because of how awkward it’s going to be, but we just say, "Alright!" So we pull over and get out to go talk to her and the lady is just so weirded out, but we talk to her and she gives us her address to go and stop by another day! It was a pretty awkward street contact, but we had a good laugh about it later. I am just so amazed when members do things like that though. I really want to go home and be that kind of member. We need members like those in missionary work.

We also have this new investigator who looked us up! He was looking up churches to go to online and our church caught his attention so he called our mission office and now we're teaching him! He has already come to church once! His name is Dimar. The only sad thing is that he might be going back to his country really soon, but he said he would find the church once he got there!

Our investigator Juan will hopefully be getting baptized this Saturday! He is seriously the greatest. He's just this cute little Hispanic man who loves to crack jokes all the time. He is still struggling a little bit with coffee, but he is seriously SO close! He has started drinking this new drink to replace the coffee so hopefully that will help him. He just wants to be baptized so badly. We really have so much hope that he will be able to be baptized this Saturday. There are a lot of people cheering him on in the ward too. So keep Juan in your prayers!

The 4th of July was pretty fun! We were able to teach a couple of lessons which is a miracle! And then we ended the day with milkshakes and grilled hamburgers. Mmm :) And after that we went outside and tried to catch fireflies because that is the closest thing that we have to fireworks. It was a lot of fun! I hope the neighborhood parade was fun!

I hope you all have a fabulous week! Make it count! I love you all!

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