Happy New Years

Well this week was really awesome. It was really cool being able to spend Christmas in 90 degree weather haha. But seriously I really enjoyed it and I am kinda sad knowing that it was my last Christmas in Brazil for a while. It was really awesome being able to talk to the Family and catching up with old times.

I would love to talk about some great things that we did for christmas but in reality, not that much went on! It was really enjoyable but we just worked hard and had a good week. We have been super busy because we are getting ready for so many baptisms. On Saturday, Paulo and Ismael were baptised. Paulo is the brother of our 1st counselor. He is great and wanted so bad to be baptised so that he could change his life for the better. He hasnt had the easiest of lives because his wife died Young and he has major health problems, but he knew that baptism would help. It was a great day and ill be sure to send some fotos next week:)

This Sunday we will be having two more baptisms! The first is of a 8 year old girl. Her brother is baptised and we are trying to help her parentes get baptised too. Her parentes are having a hard time because he needs to get a divorce and than get married so it will take some time and alot of work. The other baptism will be of a man with down sindrom. All of his nephews are baptised and we asked him if he wanted to be baptised too! HE wants really bad to be baptised so it will be cool.

Than on the 11th Adriana will be baptised. She has been waiting so long and we are all so happy that the day will finally come. She will be married on the 6th and baptised at the end of the week. Im really proud of her and happy that she has endured so long and chosen to be baptised. The Bishop already has a calling for her and she already has her first talk ready to give at church!!! haha

Anyways, we are expecting alot of success here and im excited to see how things will go from here. Thanks for all you help and support!

Love,

Elder HOrst

This Christmas!

Well the time has seemed like its flown by so fast. I can remember last christmas like it was just a few weeks ago. Its truly the best time of the year, full of love and joy for everyone. This last week we have worked really hard so that everyone can feel the real happiness of christmas. Christmas is all about Jesus Christ and.. Coca Cola! hahaha

I am really starting to like my new companion, Elder Miller. He really wants to help out and have a lot of sucess and it seems to be working:) We are having lots of investigators at church and will be having a lot of baptisms in the next few weeks. On tuesday we had the anual Mission Christmas Confrence! It was alot of fun. In the morning we had a few talks and training on the work and than we ate lunch at the usual resturant, Cheiro Verde.. or the Green Smell in english haha. In the afternoon we watched a video with photos of everything that went on the past year and all the baptisms we had. Than every zone had a presentation to do for 15 minutes, Our zone planned a really funny skit with a few good songs in it that we wrote. It wasnt as good as last year, but it seemed that everyone liked it:) As a suprise we got photos from our family and a year book sort of thing from the president.

A good part of our investigators will be at the beach for the next month so we will see how things go! Hopefully we will have lots of success finding new people to teach! Anyways id like to tell more but Im just excited for our phone call on Wednesday and ill tell you more when we call.

I hope you have a good week! Love you and merry Christmas!

Elder Horst

Our skit at the Mission Christmas party.

It's almost Christmas!

Thats almost crazy for me to think about. I had no idea that christmas was next week! Time is just flying by so fast. I thought that 2014 would be so far away but its just right around the corner. I dont know if thats a good thing or bad. I guess I will find out as i go. Luckly im at the prime of my mission. It seems like Im doing a lot more with the time that I have. Were constantly running to appointments and stuff.

Its really hot outside but im getting along. The brazilians like to make fun of me for my red face but im used to it. They say, your not White... your not brown... your just red!! haha. I put on sunblock but it doesnt make much of a difference. Also, the bugs are full blown right now. I dont remember seeing as many last summer. My feet are covered in bites that I get all night. Haha they dont bother me too much. The only thing that keeps me awake is when they buzz around my ear. It sounds like a miny airplane and crepes me out!!! The fan helps get rid of that!

My new companion is Elder Miller from Texas. Dallas I think. He is really cool and I like him a lot. he is focused and obedient. He has 1 year and 3 months on the mission and its his first time being zone leader. I like to think that he has a good companion to help teach him;) The mission kinda got a blow in the stomache because alot of missionaries were caught not being obedient. They didnt do anything really bad but it affected the whole mission. Now its my job to recooperate the success that we were having in the zone. Ive created a new ´´game´´ to get the zone motivated. Basically I buy a prize for the group that completes their goals. Its kinda fun.

Back to christmas. Were talking alot about this for our investigators. its a good way to get into peoples houses. We share with them the movie joy to the world. we bring a portable dvd player and everything. Ive gotten really sick of watching it over and over and i fight to keep awake during it (especially in the heat after lunch!) haha but the people seem to be really blessed by it. People áre alot more open to our message around christmas.

Ill call you next week! I hope that you get lots of questions ready!!! I told someone that its my third time calling home in 1 year and 8 months. I just realized now that its a rediculously long time to not talk to my Family! haha. Thats okay though, its for a good cause! Plus im okay with not speaking too much english for now!!! Im trying to get in as much portuguese as possible.

Well Restinga is pretty awesome still. Im glad that im still here. Were still planing tons of baptisms for this transfer. our goal is 9. Well see how well it goes. Last week we got to a great start getting lots of new investigators and marking baptisms every single day!!! We had 8 people at church on sunday too!

I hope that everyone is great and has an awesome holliday season..., enjoy the snow for me:)

Love,

Elder Horst

Elder Henderson and Elder Horst are welcoming Elder Henderson's parents to Porto Alegre, at the airport.

Propaganda

more propaganda

Discover the United States

like never before.

Looks like the Redwoods in California!

A Gremio soccer shirt I bought for Mom :)

Transfer Day

Well Im not gonna lie. This week was not one of the most productive weeks of the mission! We sure did get a lot done and we had a very sucessfull Ward Confrence, but we were really busy getting my companion ready to go home and the little time we had to work my companion was kinda off focus. I cant really blame him. After two years of work he lost focus on the last week. Elder Del Pino was a super awesome companion and I love him to death. It will be hard saying goodbye to him tomorrow at the bus station, but thats just how the mission works! Lots of goodbyes but lots of new experiences too.

Every day last week in the morning, my companion had interviews and meetings at the mission home so I was stuck there to do nothing. Luckly, i was able to leave for the road with Elder Reis, the assistent. It wasnt that fun taking a bus either because the busses in our area are super packed and it takes forever to get to the mission home. i get there all tired and sweaty haha.

Not having that much time to work last week, we pretty much focused on inviting people to the Ward Confrence. It turned out to be a great sucess. Our weekly average attendance is 45 but last week we got 88! It was awesome and the spirit was really strong too. We had 9 investigators at the meeting. 2 That will be baptised in January and one that needs to be baptised soon but we still have a little work to do. The stake leaders did an exelent job helping out too and the whole ward felt very loved.

We have a very special investigator named Milena. She is 15 and her parents just got separated. She is having a hard time and turned to the church for help. She will be baptised in January. Last week she participated in the Young Womens and Excelence and talked about divine value. it was really cool. She also sang with the young women at Ward Confrence. She is progressing really good and will be baptised shortly.

Today is transfer day and I got to go with Elder Henderson to the airport. It was really fun seing his parents but strange to speak english and be at the airport. Tomorrow I will say goodbye to lots of my friends.

Well thats pretty much it. I cant belive that Christmas is in a few weeks. i cant even feel the christmas spirit yet, but im sure it will arrive shortly.

 Love you all!

Elder Horst

Some of the Young Men in our ward.

Adriana, one of our investigators and Michele, our favorite member :)

I thought this was cool, the soccer stadium for the World Cup in 2014.

Our transfer on December 8.

Transfer Week

Well its the last week of the transfer and there will be transferências. I know that I will be getting a new companion obviously because my companion will be going home! We have to go to meetings every morning this week. Im not really ecited because its really far away from our house. Its about an hour on the bus and the bus is PACKED full. It gets to a point that there is no room to move your arm. Its not that great of a feeling. On the bright side, we will be going to returaunts to eat all week long:)

This week was really cool. On saturday we were able to baptise two Young men, Sonny and Marcos. They are really good guys who love when we teach them. They fight nonstop about who will be saying the prayer because they all want to do it. I was honered to baptise Sonny and a member baptised Marcos. It wasnt that great of a meeting. it started really late and none of the members showed up but all in all it was great. Marcos was so excited that he wore his baptism clothes for like two hours before it started. haha. They walked to the church (like 45 minutes away) and arrived two hours before it started haha.

We had a small Thanksgiving celebration. We bought two big pizzas and some soda. Everyone was stuffed by the end of it. Like Always, we kept the tradition and we all took turns stating why were greatful before we ate:) It was a nice dinner.

Our zone is continuing to be awesome! We have been baptising for the last 6 weeks and every área Always have investigators at church. I was able to do a division with Elder Cox on Friday. it was really fun to work with him before he goes home! We were able to prepare for his baptism and work a bit in his área. I did a contact that turned into a lesson and we invited her to be baptised. It was a really good lesson. I like being at the mission home but its really busy there! There is Always something going on.

Anyways thanks for everything and I hope that you all have a great week!

Elder Horst

Teaching the boys.

Having so much fun!

Celebrating Joao's birthday with some ward members.

The Celestial Zone of Porto Alegre :)

Sister Hodnic, Sister Birt, Sister Parks, Sister Marques, Eder Luiz, Elder Ritz, Elder Beary, Elder Olivera, Elder Roberts, Elder Moda, Elder Del Pino, Elder Marshall, Elder Triffitt

The cleanup crew:  The hose on the washing machine was kinked.  When I unkinked it, the hose exploded and flooded the house.  We didn't have the key to turn the water off.  It took me about 20 minutes to repair the hose.

The solution to the problem

BYU always saves the day!

Less active members of our ward.

This is how we celebrated American Thanksgiving!

Guess which half is mine.....the unhealthy half of course, with all the bacon ;)

At our Thanksgiving "pizza" feast, we all took turns saying what we were grateful for.

Waiting for the baptism to start.  One of the elders looked out the window to see if anyone else was on their way.

Marcos and Sonny, two great young men!

I was really happy to baptize Sonny!

I pranked Elder Roberts by throwing an empty egg at him.

I have a video and may be able to send it next week.

Family night with some investigators.

Some really nice souvenirs I bought for the chimarrao drink.

The silver utensil is a straw, with a holder for the herbs.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well its been another great week here in Porto Alegre. Ive been having so much fun working here with my companion and the zone. This week didnt have quite as much action as the past few weeks, but the time still doesnt seem to stop slowing down and we are still running around trying to get as many baptisms as possible by the end of the transfer. This is the last full week of work for us because next week will will be forced to spend alot of time preparing my companion to go home! Ill give more details on that next week.

So this week we are baptising two young men that have 14 and 16 years. They both are suprisingly interested in learning more. They fight to see who will do the prayer (they all wanna do it) and they are excited to learn how to keep the commandments and are really really excited to be baptised on Saturday. Theyre names were announced at church on sunday and they both had beaming smiles! Theyre parents and family will be at the baptism so we hope to have a really spiritual experience so that they can get baptised too!

For the group of people that will be baptised on the 7th, we are working really hard that they keep their potential. Some of them have had a few problems that have shaken their faith, but I know that they are all ready to be baptised and we will do everything so that they can get baptised and reep the blessings.

Its extremely hot here and I have to put on sunblock every day (55). I forgot how many bugs are out during the summer. Its really annoying because we still dont have fans that the mission gives us and we hav to sleep with the windows open and all the bugs get in. I cant sleep with a blanket cause its so dang hot! Luckly there is lots of wind on the 5th floor.

We have some sick plans for thanksgiving. Were gonna buy some pizza and have a nice dinner together with the other missionaries that live with us.It will be fun and everyones excited for it. I hope that everyone has a great thanksgiving!

Love you guys,

Elder Horst

Baptismos!

well this week we have been thinking, eating, working, and dreaming about baptisms. All we seem to be doing is inviting people to get baptised. Its really great. We have tons of investigators that are working towards being baptised next month and my companion and I are really happy because of that.

The Lord has truly been blessing us in our work because every day it seems like someone new wants to be baptised. We seem to be getting the members involved too and everyone is getting excited to do missionary work.

The zone is also doing very well. Every area is able to get some baptisms marked and investigators at church. We are working hard by visiting lots of areas and working with the other elders.

We were able to teach Paulo who is the brother of a member. he has a few kids but is living a really hard life since the death of his wife. he lost all track of who he was and went into serious depression. Now we are helping him by teaching him the lessons. it seems like the gospel gives him more hope and happiness and I can truly see a difference in him. I know that baptism is the best way for him to suceed in life and return to the guy that he was before.

Also, we are teaching Milena. She is a 15 year old girl that is a friend of some of the members. She wants to get baptised because her parents are fighting and getting seperated. She knows that baptism will help her feel more comfort and peace. She will have the holy ghost that will always help her in all the difficulties of her life.

Another investigator that we have is Maite. All she wants to do in her life is protect her three little kids that she has. its hard for her to be a single parent without a job but she is turning to the Lord because she knows that through baptism she can be forgiven of her past sins and recieve help fro, the love and mercy of the lord.

We are also teaching many others with many different problems. But they all seem to have a few things in common. They all love their families. They all want a better life for themselves. They all want to be happy and they want to be baptised because they know it will make them better. They know that through the gift of the holy ghost they can be eternally blessed and one day can return to their father in heaven with all eternal glory and power. 

Love you all,

Elder Horst

Good Week

Well its true, im burning hot here!!! I actually got a bit sunburnt on Wednesday but ive been putting on sunblock ever since. Everything is going well and we are having lots of sucess as a area and zone. Really nothing too exciting has been going on differently this week. We are just marking lots of baptisms and trying to get them all to follow through.

Adriana finally decided to get baptised. She wants to get married too! So she will get married in the next few weeks and than get baptised on the 23rd. If things dont work out by the 23rd she will get baptised on the 7th along with the rest of our investigators.

We have the zone leader meeting this tuesday and on thursday Elder Del Pino and I will be giving the training. I am really excited because the zone is doing so well right now and we can just help them more with this training. The zone had 4 baptisms yesterday and we are all expecting to baptise on the 23rd.

Well sorry its such a short note but ill be sure to write more next week!! Have a great week, love ya!

Elder Horst

Happy Halloween!

Well Halloween passed by very quickly. And now im already hearing Christmas music and seeing trees in stores!! Its crazy how fast Christmas is coming up. Its starting to get extremely hot here but the rain storms seem to keep the tempurature down. The mosquitos have woken up and its starting to feel like SUMMER! (not chirstmas). But im realy excited! We are going to have a ``white Christmas´´ Baptism on the 8th of December I believe and Im really excited to baptise so many people. My companion and I are working really hard and we have a huge list of investigators and almost all of our investigators have a baptismal date. Cool huh??

Were working really hard each and every day. My companion and I have learned alot on how to be a good Zone Leader and we are taking it to the max. Our zone seems to make its goals every week which is really helping every single area. Basicaly at the end of the week if one area isnt getting good results or if they will fall short on their goal, we go visit their area and give them some help. Our zone is really united and we love working and being together.

The ward here is getting SUBSTANTIALLY BETTER. When I arrived here the spirit wasnt really strong in our meetings. The members were split into groups and there was a lot of gossip. We are starting to see a change! This week the testimony meeting was absolutely amazing. Everyone talked nice about someone else and the spirit was so strong. President Castro was able to visit too and it was nice to see him again. All the members talked good about us to the president. haha. Better yet, we were able to confirm Loeci as a member of the church and it was a special day.

My companion and I have been able to see so many miracles each and every day. It seems like God is just GIVING us people to teach and help. Obviously we are teaching people based on our obedience, work, faith, and diligence, but we feel really good doing all this.

On Haloween we had an interview with one of the members of the Area Presidency. he gave a great pep talk and I learned alot about my work and how Ican be a better person. Before the meeting some of the missionaries in our zone ate lunch together! It was a great day.

Well that sums up the week for us. Have a great day!!

Love,

Elder Horst

Transfer Day!

Well today is transfer day and the big news is that I or my companion will not get transfered:) Excelent news for me because my companion is amazing. We work so well together and are both really excited for alot of sucess in the next few weeks. Elder Del Pino is going home in 6 weeks and is starting to get a bit itchy but he will be fine and will work really hard the next few weeks. This week was crazy. We seemed to run around all week. Saturdayday night when my companion and I layed down to sleep we were sore on every single muscle. LITERALLY. but we were so happy too! Lets go over the weeks news...

Monday was supposed to be our P-Day but we ended up working pretty much the whole time. There is an investigator, that got baptised this week, and she needed food cause she doesnt have money (her husband died). so it spent alot of time to get that done and it was long from the house so we decided to just keep working. It was a great day!

On Tuesday we were able to visit a district meeting and help them with district friend, where all the missionaries work in the same area. I worked with Elder Roberts from Riverton. He lives with us. It was a great day and we were able to find lots of new investigators for the other area. Tuesday night we got a call from our investigator Fransisco. He asked us to come over the next day for a urgent issue.

Wednesday came around and we were really nervous to know what he was talking about. We passed by there at the time requested and he told us that he was two weeks without a job. Worse than that is that he was getting in fights with his wife and needed help!! Well Fransisco is a hard guy to teach. He gets blessings and answers but doesnt show his gratitude by keeping the comandments and his blessings get taken away. We talked to him a bit and I think that we helped a bit but it wasnt what he needed. 

The next day we went there with the bishop to talk about mairage (beucase my companion and I have no idea what were talking about) and about obedience. Fransisco promised to go to church but didnt make it. Its kinda frustrating but were just planning on putting it in Gods hands. Were not sure how much longer we will keep teaching him.

Also on Thursday we were able to teach lots of people and find alot of new investigators including 4 new families. Were excited to teach and help them. One of them is Andre who is a 25 year old guy that is studing Chineese but has some weird thoughts about religion. he will pray and ask god if he needs to be baptised.

Saturday came around and we were preparing for the baptism of Loeci that was taken place on Sunday. Elder Ritz and his companion Elder Hyatt slept at our house and gave the baptism interview Saturday morning. All went well. Than on saturday we went to two areas and helped them work a bit because their areas wernt having alot of sucess. Basically we walked in the road allll day long trying to find people for them to teach:) I hope they were greatful of our work...

Sunday was the baptism and it went great. It was also the Primary Program and the 2 kids of our investigator Adriana were able to help and sing along. And heres a surprise,,, the missionaries helped in the program too!!! We sang if the savior stood beside me. It was a bit strange to sing with the primary but I liked it, it brought back alot of good childhood memories:) I just imagined watching my dad sitting below trying to hold back all the tears hahahaha..

So basically thats the news for this week! Transfer day is tomorrow and we have a confrence with One of the Area Presidency. It will be a great meeting, the president is really excited for it.

Happy Halloween!!!

Elder Horst

One of our districts.

Shortest to tallest:  Elder Del Pino, Elder Roberts, Elder Berry, Elder Ritz, Elder Oliveira, Elder Horst, Elder Hyatt, Elder Trifitt

Tallest to shortest:  Elder Trifitt, Elder Hyatt, Elder Horst, Elder Oliveira, Elder Ritz, Elder Berry, Elder Roberts, Elder Del Pino

Lazanha!

A bird pooped on me!

The baptism of Loeci!

Trip to the Temple

Well im trying to send some photos but its raining really hard outside and the internet speed here at the internet cafe is really slow so we will see how it goes. 

This past week was really great for my companion. The problem is that it passed so dang quickly! I cant believe that it passed so fast and im a bit nervous that next week will be even faster. My companion and I are running to do everything we can but it seems like there isnt enough time to get it all done! Were working really hard on trying to manage my time better to accomplish all of our goals and duties.

On tuesday we had zone confrence. it was a really interesting meeting and I was able to learn alot about how I can improve my work and be a better missionary with a better focus on the work. It seemed like the whole zone liked it and we all left wanting to be better. The zone is having troubles with a few things. They are all working hard but it seems that some are getting conforable and not always pushing to do better. Were working hard on fixing that.

On wednesday we took a trip to the temple. It was a marvelous session as usual. The temple is such a beautiful place and just being aroud it is a great feeling. We took a lot of good pictures that I hope I can send to you.

On Saturday I was able to go to my old area São Tomé to see the baptisms of a few boys that I found and taught while I was there. It was so awesome to see everyone again and the baptism was really special. The elders are still working on the mom and dad to get baptised and also their older brother.. but they will come along and get baptised in no time. I was able to see huge differences in them since a year ago when I saw them,  (see photos below)

This saturday our friend Loeci will get baptised. I am really excited to get her baptised because she stoped smoking and drinking coffee last week and has been doing great! Im really proud of her and hope that she keeps it up so she can be baptised.

Adriana is progressing but I dont understand why shes not baptsed yet. She has such a strong testimony, goes to church every week, keeps the commandments, gives us dinner every week;) She is just having a hard time with one personal problem thats holding her back. I know that she will get baptised soon, we are just being pacient until she is ready.

My companion Elder Del Pino will return home in December and he will probably stay with me in the area until than. We are working really hard and making really high goals to keep him focused and ready to work!! He is a great companion!

I hope that everyone has a great week!

Love,

Elder Horst

This is a sister whom Elder Horst got to know and love in Sao Tome, an area that he served in a year ago.

A year ago while serving in Sao Tome, my companion and I had the opportunity to find and teach these three young men and their families.  We baptized their sister, Linda.

This photo shows the fruits of baptism, such a cool photo.

After I was transferred, the sisters taught this family and when they were transferred, the elders taught them :)  The mission president allowed us all to travel and attend their baptism.

The sister teachers!

Nata (red shirt) will be baptized in a few weeks and the mom (red hair) will be baptized when she gets married :)