Personal Revelations and the Trial of your Faith

Well this week has been a Grand Slam, as the Americans call it. We have worked really hard and have some really good investigators. We have seen miracles, apostles, and much happiness this week but at the same time have been blessed with hardships.

First Ill start with the hardships. This week has been so great! Weve worked really hard with our progressing investigators and have been really bold to invite them to follow Jesus Christ. By Saturday, we had a whole list of people that were ready and prepared to come to church. NONE of them came!!! AHH how annoying is that? It didnt help that it was held at the stake center because of conference either. This whole week we have been teaching investigators about Ether 12. That we only receive faith AFTER the trial of our faith. In other words, they wouldnt receive a testimony about this church until after they have visited and felt the spirit. All my investigators seemed to agree and were excited to attend.

It wasnt until Sunday night that I realised I was being tested of my faith. It wasnt easy sitting in Stake Conference without any investigators. It definitely wasnt easy knowing that many of the goals we had for baptism fell for the date we had planned. It was hard for me and my companion. Thats when I realized that maybe my companion and I were being tested. Maybe the Lord wanted to know if I was strong enough and prepared to teach and invite his children to the waters of baptism. Im not sure why it happened, but I know that this week my companion and I will continue to work hard, continue to invite our investigators to feel the spirit and become converted, and continue to keep the commandments and have the spirit with us.

Ill share a little about my investigators. First there is Marlisa and her daughter Michelle who is 17 years old. They read the Book of Mormon and pray together when they have time. They both know the Book of Mormon is true and Marlisa has already received an answer. The problem is that they havent been to church yet. I know that when they go to church, their beliefs will become testimonies. They agreed to be baptised when they receive a full answer of this gospel.

Marcelo is a grandson of a less-active member. His brother is also less active in the church. We are working hard to bring the Grandfather to church and baptise Marcelo.

Bruna and her brother Luan. Bruna is 19 and over the last 6 months of her life her father has become ill with some kind of deadly disease. He is starting to get better but is completely dependant on her to help him with everything. Since she has been faced with this trial, she has thought alot about religion and her purpose in life. She is progressing really well and promised to pray about the Book of Mormon. She prayed in front of us for the first time in her life. She says that she likes the feelings that she gets but needs to take it slow because religion is a new thing for her.

Ana Claudia is a mother in her late forties. She is having problems with smoking and drinking. She drinks when she is sad and lonely. She quits smoking than starts again. The good thing is that she is ready to turn to the Lord and get help. She has looked me in the eye and told me that she will be baptised when she gets the answer. She is full of faith and im excited to teach her.

On Saturday, we had the opportunity to listen to David A. Bednar. A true apostle of Jesus Christ. It was one of the most wonderful experience of my life. Just as he said, being with an apostle, two members of the quorum of 70, A member from the area presidency, and your mission president, and being in a group of 60 people will never ever happen again! We were able to ask great questions. I learned so much about the church by the things he taught. He taught us how to receive answers from the Lord. I learned how to teach and convert my investigators. And just as important, he taught us skills that help me for the rest of my life! I was blessed to see and hear him. OH and yes, I wore the ugly family tie:)

(This is the tie if you can zoom in and see it....this photo was taken in July, 2012)

Well ill wrap it up for this week! Be safe and remember to do everything good to always have the spirit with you.

Love,

Elder Horst

Baptisms!

Well this week has been very special and amazing for me. First of all, today is transfer day. The president was inspired to let me stay in São Tomé with my companion Elder Andrade. I am so excited for this because I know that we will work so hard together and earn alot of baptisms. This transfer will only be five weeks long because its the month of February, but its not a big deal!

Yesterday was a spiritual feast! We had two baptisms! My first baptisms as senior companion. One baptism was João. He is eight years old and his mother has been a member for three years. I was able to teach him and baptise him. The same day, my companion confirmed him a member of the church.

Also baptised was Diego. Diego is 14 years old. His sister was baptised last year. One of the most important things we taught him was prayer. He never prayed before because he never knew how to pray! We taught him and through alot of practice, he can now pour out his heart to his father in heaven. One time when we were praying he said, `Thanks so much for the missionaries here. I have always wanted to be baptised but nobody ever asked and I didnt know if I was allowed to. I am really excited for baptism because I know this will help me.´ Hearing that prayer was such a spiritual experience for me. I know that there is a Heavenly Father who loves and watches us every day.

This week we were able to invite many people to be baptised and right now we are focusing on 5 different families who have a baptismal date for this February. By the end of this week, we hope to have ten families that are working on being baptised. The Lord has greatly blessed me and my companion and we are working hard to thank him for all that he does for us.

Lastly I wanted to mention that I am going to be an uncle for the 9th time!! My sister Lindsay announced that she will be having her fourth child. Congratulations! Now I only need my other two siblings to have a child and I will come home to 5 beautiful unknown faces!

Thanks for all your help and support.´

Elder Horst

A Spectacular week!

Well this week has been spectacular! I have worked extremely hard and I have seen many blessings! First I will talk about my new companion. His name is Elder Andrade from Curitiba Brazil. He almost has 6 months in the mission and we are a perfect companionship! We set really high goals and work hard to accomplish them. I have a strong feeling that if we get to stay together for some time, we will have alot of baptisms coming up!

Speaking of baptisms! We are planning on having two people get baptized this Sunday. One is an 8 year old boy named Joao. He is the child of a member but has a few fears of getting baptized so we have been teaching him a bit and preparing him. I am really excited to see him get baptised. His mom said that once he sees the coolerr baptismal font he will be so excited to get in that his fears will leave. haha.

Also we are using our faith and planning on baptising a boy named Diego. He is 14 years old. His younger sister was baptised last year and now he has a desire to be baptised too. Its really fun to teach him because I can see that through teaching him he has gotten closer to his sister.He is really shy and every time he prays he needs his sister to whisper in his ear haha. Its kinda funny but really cool too.

Sometimes we can learn more from children that they learn from us and our examples. My area has an 8 year old girl named Giovana. She was baptised just a month ago. This week we were at her house eating lunch. When we were giving the message, we asked the family if they had people for us to teach. Giovana told us that her friend who lives down the street wants to be baptised and we needed to teach her. I asked her if she would come with us to her friends house and invite her to church. She felt embarrassed but after practicing, she was ready!

We went to her house and I talked to the mother for a little bit about our church and set up an appointment to talk with them again. Than I told Giovana to invite her friend and she said, ``Do you want to come to church with me tomorrow and get baptised?  Haha. I had to explain that we wouldnt baptise her the second she walked in the door but I was really proud of Giovana. She put away her fears and relied on the Lord to help invite her best friend to church. How cool is that? Maybe we need to follow the example of this 8 year old girl and work harder to invite our friends and co-workers to church even if its hard to do.

On the 27th I have the opportunity to meet Elder Bednar! He will be coming to our mission. Also there will be a member of the Quorum of the Seventy, a member of the Area Presidency, and a member of the Seventy of the Area. Haha a bit confusing... but 4 people called by God to be leaders of the church. Im really excited to pull out the classic family tie! (and im nervous that Elder Bednar will say im not allowed to wear such an ugly tie haha). Im very excited for these opportunities to see him.

I hope everyone is doing good. Always remember to have the spirit and keep the commandments. This will bring much peace and happiness.

With love,
Elder Horst

Mom's note:  The ugly tie

Jeremy, our son in law and Lindsay's husband, served his mission in Bilbao Spain.  Before he left, his best friend gave him a really ugly tie (that he found at a thrift store) and said that Jeremy had to wear it to a very important event and have his photo taken that day, wearing the tie.  When Jeremy returned from his mission, he signed the inside of the tie, dated it and wrote the name of his mission.  He gave it to Jordan, Addison (who all did the same) and now Sean.  Next it will go to Jeremy's nephew Jordan  (who is 16)and then to his son Bridger (who is 7 l/2).  It is a fun tradition.  I will post the photo of Elder Sean Horst wearing the tie when he sends it to me, so you can see what it looks like :)

I am an Uncle again!

Hello everyone! How has your week been? I have felt very blessed this week. Because of three things.

First I was blessed with a new niece this week! Kylie Violet Horst. I hear that she is very beautiful. It was kinda funny. On Saturday I went to lunch at a members house. We were talking and she said, your niece is so cute!! My reply was, which niece?? Then she said, The new one, from Africa! haha. I was so shocked to hear and I told her that I was jealous that she knew about my niece before me! (Thanks to facebook). I am so excited to be able to meet her and my new nephew Benjamin when I get home! Im sure we will make friends real fast:)

The second reason I was blessed this week was because today the president called me into his office. He told me that I was going to receive a new companion!  Once again there was a problem in the mission and I will receive a new companion. Im starting to think that the President REALLY trusts me because this is the third time he has given me a companion with problems. I guess thats a compliment, but its a challenge as well. Im excited to be with my new companion, Elder Andrade from Curitiba, Brazil.

The third reason I have been blessed this week is because I have felt the spirit very strongly! At the beginning of the week I felt down about the work I have been doing here and how I should be working harder. Through prayer, reading the scriptures, and making new goals, I have gained more motivation to not just work, but work with all my might. I wont just obey the rules, but obey them with exactness. I think doing these things will bring me alot of happiness and success in the mission.

Oh, I was also blessed by finding out that BYU won their first two conference games this week haha... but that blessing isnt really important right now. Hows America doing? All I hear from people is that they're trying to take away guns, were allowed to smoke marijuana, and our new health plan is coming into effect.... Ya.. I dont really miss America that much right now haha.

Im really being tested here in Saõ Tomé. We have a bit of success then everything falls and we have to start over again. Its frustrating but im sure that its for a purpose. On the bright side, I think that I have earned the trust of everyone in the branch and they are now more willing to help out with missionary work. That is a huge blessing. Lunch is also alot better when they like us too.. Yesterday a teacher (14 years old) asked me if I would visit Brazil after the mission. My reply to all is that I would love to return someday if I had the chance. Then he said that I was a cool missionary that is fun but likes to work and he wants to see me after the mission. That comment made me feel really good:) I know that by following the commandments and working hard, I am being an example to all.

To wrap up, I just wanted to say that God knows us. He loves us and he wants us to talk to him through prayer. Thomas S. Monson has told us that ``Prayer is the Passport to Peace``

Love,
Elder Horst