Week 22-Esperanza-Elder Salazar

Some of the things he shared while chatting back & forth:

Mom I found out today that someone in my zone in the MTC died... she was in Argentina! I asked him if it was the sister missionary who died of Ecoli and was a soccer player from Utah, and he said YES. He was pretty sad about that. 

Ahola..... Woops.. Aloha!!

Well this week went really good and really hard, frustrating.. but all in all it went really good! To start off on Tuesday we were looking for a reference from a member and so we went to a house thinking it was it, but it was empty and the door was open, then we heard someone behind us say... hey Elders, haha he then told us that his son is a member and knows English.... so of coarse I was a little curious about his English because no one in Esperanza can speak perfect English ;) haha but so we went to his house and I was talking to him in Spanish then it just was like his accent changed and spoke perfect English!! haha I was shocked, and I  was so happy, like I had a huge smile on my face while I was talking with him! But what where the chances that we would find him, he lives on the corner of our area and just barely like that day moved back to Esperanza!! and to make it better he plays Football, he's a running back!! Man I was just a very content little boy right there! Oh, his name is Lorenzo! 

Then next big thing that happened this week is a little bit of companion conflict... but all went well we sat down and talked it out, and right when we started we both started to cry... haha I don't know if I should say that, but o well its the truth! The spirit was strong. And now we are going great we get along a lot better, I think almost one month of thoughts just attacking the mind just need to come out, then after I told him like one or two things I didn't like that he does, it was like I started to say things about me, then I started focusing on me instead of him! which really opened my eyes. 

we went to Hornos again and taught 3 lessons in 2 hours!! It was so cool, and the people we taught are very potential investigators, the only problem is how far they live.. Its like a 25 minute bus ride, that cost 15 pesos one way!!! Dang how expensive!

Saturday while we were giving tours 2 ladies stopped and asked for limonada, so we gave it to them, then one told us that she has family that lives in Utah and she loves it there and all this stuff!! haha and then we asked them if they wanted to take a tour and they said yes. So Elder Miller and I (two gringos that have the same time, not fluent) took them on a tour! And when I was explaining about the chapel and what we do in there, they asked us if we could sing a hymn. So we had a member there and he played the piano and we sang a hymn haha, (I'm getting pretty good at this singing thing) then we went and showed the baptismal font and after that they asked us if we could give them a blessing!!  I was just wondering can we do this? But then I remembered that Jesus used his priesthood for all to help all! So Elder Miller gave one, and I gave the other! That was one of my best blessings I've given! But what a strange tour that was haha. 

Sunday! Javier came and received the Holy Ghost!! and after he received it I was going to sit at the sacrament table and saw him say to himself "wow" haha I read his lips. He felt the spirit really strong! and so did I! Such a cool experience! But ya that's all in this week!! 

Love you all! Thanks for everything!! I hope that you can feel my love EVERY SINGLE time I pray, because I pray for you guys.

Elder Horlacher

 Trevor loves the carnival, so he was pretty excited when he saw this on his way to church.

 This is their chapel.

Week 20 - Esperanza - Elder Salazar

HOLA Familia... haha 

Well this week was pretty dang good!! I just want to start off by saying a HUGE THANKS to EVERYONE that sent me a heartfelt letter, for the letters of my fellow SC Missionary buddies and emails to those that wished me a happy birthday, it really was one of  THE BEST birthdays in my life!! IT WAS SO AMAZING! I have the best family and friends!!!

Well this week started of pretty hard, with finding or meeting with people to teach. But all went well! So on my birthday, Friday-March 6th, we went to Obregon for a zone conference, which is always awesome. I get to talk and see people that I haven't seen for awhile and to add to that excitement, they all sang me a Spanish church "Happy Birthday" song haha then all the gringos sang, "Happy Birthday" to me, it was pretty cool! Then I went to the mission offices and got my package!! Man THANKS SO MUCH for that package!! I think my favorite part of it is all the wonderful letters!! haha I love reading what everyone of you had to say!! All so different haha.  Afterwards, we went back to Esperanza to eat and from lunch we went straight to the Baptism for Javier!!! We got there and there wasn't a lot of support because, it was on a Friday, at 3:00 so it was hard to have a good attendance.. but I baptized him and it was pretty cool!! The water was a little cold and I was so focused on saying his name right that I almost messed up on the prayer... haha but all went well and it was such a cool experience on my birthday, what a great gift for me to give to someone that I care about!! Then after the baptism, my companion told them all that it was my birthday and they sang the Spanish church song again haha Then the grandma of Javier came and it looked like she was going to give me a hug... so I just put my arm out stiff and shook her hand... haha. 

After the baptism we went to teach Joshua!! And that was a cool lesson! He is soooo ready, soooo prepared, he has the desire to be baptized, to study, pray, but the one slight problem is that his dad won't let him....and that is a big problem for us missionaries... but we are going to continue to teach him the lessons and pray for him, and we have faith that heavenly father will soften his dads heart and let him do what is right!! Then to finish off my birthday we bought a tres leches cake, and so I ate that, then I sat on my bed and read all the letters that night:) thanks so much for those letters!! I can't thank you enough!!

A Spiritual experience that I had this week was we went to see how Annie was doing and if she still wants us to teach her. So we got there and started teaching her but as normal she started asking a TON of questions, and one of her biggest doubts about us is that we can baptize her.. that we have the priesthood! So we told her if she doesn't believe us then we will bring the Bishop to explain it to her... and she was pleased with that..So then we wanted to show her a video (The Hope of Gods Light) and so we put it on and watched it... and wow that video is so powerful! After it got over she turned and had a different face... then my companion told her what he liked about this video and said that every time he watches it he feels something. Then she turned to me and asked "do you feel something?" And I said, "yes I feel peaceful, joy, happy, and a love like no other". Then she didn't say anything and I thought "oh no those sound like cliche responses!!" so I hurried and asked if she felt something, and she said, "you know something, I have always asked why God keeps sending you two here, when I forget to do my homework, when I don't study or read. But when I was watching this video   I realized that it's NOT Elder Salazar or                 Elder Horlacher knocking on the door.. it's God!!"  WOW!! I cant tell you how strong the spirit was... literally I wanted to cry in joy!! but I held it in:) and I told her that I was going to be talking in sacrament meeting on Sunday and she said, "ok I will come!!" so we left happy!!

But when Sunday came around... we waited and waited and waited but none of our investigators came... not even Javier to receive the Holy Ghost!!! So that was really kind of a punch in the face or a downer... But I still had to give my talk, so I gave my first talk in sacrament meeting, and it went alright haha I didn't look at the paper the whole time!! and I talked for 9 minutes haha I was pretty surprised with it but I still don't have control of my knees when I give talks... haha but ya this is my week!! 

I love you all thanks for all you continue to do for me and all of my letters, they were the BEST gifts ever!! Be safe and remember that not only I love you, but Heavenly Father and Jesus LOVE YOU!!

LOVE,

Elder Horlacher

You have NO idea how much this birthday box meant to this boy.

He could not thank me enough for the LETTERS that I collected from coaches, teachers,

friends, families, uncles, aunts, cousins and sisters. That was all he asked for and the

Jesus The Christ Book (Thanks to Coach Campbell). He said it was the BEST BIRTHDAY!!

Elder Horlacher and Javier.

Elder Horlacher & Elder Salazar with Javier and his family.

Trevor said that this is a BAR in Mexico.

He said at least they don't DRINK and DRIVE! haha

Week 19 - Esperanza - Elder Salazar

mom!!! how are you? thanks for all the check ups!!! that's so cool to hear where everyone is going on their missions now!!"! So crazy that it is already that time to start opening all their calls!! Dang seems just like yesterday! And yes the 6th month mark!! WOW I'm getting old in mission and in 3 days I'll be older, not just a little 18 year old!!! It really is like what every one says "a blink and its gone" how crazy!! It feels just like yesterday that I was in the MTC, or at home watching you work in the office... haha or playing Rubgy & Football!! But I can honestly say that this 6 months have been the biggest teaching and building as a priesthood holder, member, man, and all in all A BETTER ME!! I have a found a love for people that I didn't even know... when I think about that... it's just kinda weird haha but its a good thing!!!

This week we have come back in touch with an old investigator named Joshua and he is 14 years old, and he has been prepared!!!! He is ready, its amazing because we have tried teaching him ever since I arrived here in Esperanza, but in his own time (Heavenly Father) he prepared him! he loves to read out of the Book of Mormon, and wants to be baptized!! It's amazing to watch Joshua learn more and find the light. His date for baptism is the 20th!!! so pray that his parents will allow him, and that he will be able to prepare for this day!! Then we have a baptism Saturday for Javier!! So I'm pretty much pumped in this work right now!! My Spanish is alright I can talk a little more fluently, but ya I can understand mostly all!! what a blessing haha 

Lourdes is doing great she is going to the temple this Saturday to do baptisms for the dead for her family!!! She is amazing and such a strength in the gospel. wow really already!!

Annie is good but she still hasn't come to church!!! She is starting to understand our religion but she needs to come to church!! 

The guy that I gave him a blessing he doesn't want to come to church so there is nothing we can do so we said we will come back to his house in a while to see if he is ready.. but I gave another blessing to the grandma of Javier and she said if we hadn't have come when we did that she might have done something that would have been really bad... she is really sad, depressed... one of her sons is a drug addict and beat her because she was protecting her grandson from him.... how sad... so I gave her a blessing of peace, comfort and of health.. I was stumbling on words and all, but she felt a lot better after the blessing, I could tell.

We had intercambios (transfers for a day) and I went to another area in Obregon, it was really different, which is really strange because its only like 20 minutes away! But it went really good, we had a apostolic yell at us and tell us to leave because we were teaching about the Book of Mormon to her son that is like 70! haha She almost called us the devils but my comp. Elder Flores corrected her... hehe then I got to see Elder Funk and Elder Vargason from the MTC! which was good! well I don't know really what else to say... 

But all I can say, is the best feeling is when you see the light of the gospel start to shine in someone you love, or see them find it for them selves! It's amazing :)

Love you all and thanks for the emails and package, and especially THANK YOU for all of your prayers (if you pray for me;) even if you don't thanks!! Love you all!! 

Elder Horlacher

Making pancakes for his district with Elder Cruz

Trevor with the Yaquis Indians in the street

Trevor got to spend some time with Elder Funk & Elder Vargason, from the MTC

Getting ready to go out in the rain!!

Shoe UPDATE: Hanging on by a thread

Week 17-Esperanza - Elder Ramirez~(Transfer) Elder Salazar

Love!!!! I love you all and want you all to know that!! Happy Late Valentines!!

Well, last Monday we went to the flee market and wow its sick!! I bought a green mexico jersey!!! Yep, I'm pretty happy about that buy, because I don't know I just like jerseys now!! Then on Tuesday, we went to Obregon for zone conference, and it was good. I got to see Elder Riech and Elder Wahlstrom again, and they are the ones I took the picture with! Then we went to a teaching appointment with Jose. We asked if we could start with an opening hymn, and of coarse he said, "yes", so we picked the song "We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet" so we started singing and right after we finished the first line, the first sentence, he LIFTED HALF OF HIS BODY,  then farted.... and wow it was really loud and haha I couldn't sing after that!!! I tried but I would just ruin the song, so my companion sang all four verses solo, while I was just crying in laughter haha soo bad!! haha dang I couldn't believe that happened. :) but Wednesday, we taught Javier about the Law of Chasity.... haha we taught a 9 year old about the Law of Chasity! Crazy!! We started out explaining about how every person has a box where they can't touch or let others touch, and they just kind of laughed awkwardly haha but in the end we thought that we had taught everything, and my companion said, "is that all?" and I said, "I think so", then I thought, "NO".... and then the point of pornography popped into my head and I said, "no.... we still need to teach about this~Pornography!!" and so we did and when we said that it is really bad, the cousin said to the other boy "I told you that that is bad!!" I was just shocked, that a nine year old had already been introduced to porn.... and how the Holy Ghost is really there helping us teach and puts the thoughts into our head what we need to teach because Heavenly Father knows us and what we need personally!! 

Thursday, we taught the family of gold :) and wow they have a lot of contention in their home. The dad is a drunk, the mom is a planchador, the son I don't know.... the mom just planched all of her family right in front of us, and I felt so bad.  The contention in the room was sooo strong, I was just thinking, wow~ Satan really does find joy in destroying families... but by the end of the lesson, the mom had to leave the room because she was crying, but she said, "oh something is in my eye" I was thinking, "uh huh sure ;)!" In the beginning she said that she likes our church but she knows that its not her time to change religions... and by the end she said, "yes it's my time!" haha. So we invited her and her family to church! And they said, "yes" but the dad, he didn't want to go...

Friday we went to Hornos!! Hornos is a little town (size of Glendale, UT) about a 30 minute bus ride that is in our area! and wow it is sooo sick, cool, sweet, suave, padre, cual quiere. But we found some cool spots, and found some investigators!!! Then when we returned we taught Marco y Conception, my 3rd grandparents :) and that went really good, but Marco is sick with Diabetes... so that's hard for him, he is 80 years old... and his wife is 84! 

Saturday it rained during the night so it was feeling like California or Hawaii!! It was soooooo nice but the people here in Sonora think that it's cold at a 60-70 degree range... so we made hot chocolate for tours, haha and guess what the sun came out and it was hot again, so we were giving hot chocolate to people in the HOT... haha. And also we went to teach Jose again and to invite him to church, and when we were teaching about the commandment of keeping the Sabbath day holy, in the end we asked if he would come and he said, "NO"... and we asked, "why not?", and he just said, "I don't feel good", so I asked how he felt during church, and he said, "I felt good, peace, calm".. so I said, "why don't you want to feel that way again? why would you not want to do something that makes you feel like that again? why?"
 (my first planch in the mission:) and he didn't respond... but in the end I asked him, "Do you want to go to church?" and he just said, "it's that I don't feel good".... so i just said "ooo ok so you don't"... and that was that, and I made him a promise, "that if he wanted to come to church in the next Sunday that God would bless him and open the doors for him to be able to come!" so that was a lesson I wont forget..

Sunday, Javier came to church with his family!!! It was soo cool to see him with his family all singing together, smiling, feeling the spirit!! Ya that was an awesome thing to see!! Then we received our cambios or transfers!!! and it turns out I'm staying in Esperanza for another 6 weeks!! I guess my work here isn't done :) my new comp. is Elder Salazar from my district, he just moved upstairs into my house haha he lived underneath us...Elder Ramirez is now a zone leader in Obregon! how cool!!

Well I love you all thanks for everything!! les amo muchismo :)

Elder Horlacher

 Elder Horlacher with Elder Riech and Elder Wahlstrom

 Javier and his cousins with the missionaries

 Javier

 Trevor showing off his wheelchair skills.

The lady was cracking up because she had never seen this done.

HORNOS

 Trevor has a great friend, "Robert Schwenke" and this is his stance "The Schwenke"

 Don't Touch the water!!!!

THE BUS RIDE

Week 16 - Esperanza-Elder Ramirez

HELLO FAMILIA!!!!

Well this week was pretty good, to start off Monday we went to Sam's and bought 12 liters of milk and I've drank 8 of them already, yep I love Milk and I'm getting chubby. Then we went to Walmart and ate Chinese food, which was really good & cheap-I know it's kind of surprising. I picked up Oreos and Chips Ahoy and I am almost done with them and they were BIG packages. (Oh I am not eating very healthy!)

But Monday, Fui Bien we still haven't been able to play soccer with the family.

(In the background Elder Ramirez-"Hello Family Horlacher" Trevor corrects him and says, "Horlacher Family" Elder Ramirez - "Horlacher Family-Sorry I am stupid, I'm learning English" haha)

On Tuesday we were trying to do a pyramid as 4 of us, but it's kind of hard when we don't have someone to take the picture so we put it on self timer that was hard but all was well. I hope you liked those photos.

(In the background "THE BEST TWO YEARS" music playing and Elder Ramirez singing, Trevor laughing).We also ate nachos and I ate one of the best hamburgers I've ever eaten 

at a members house, Hermano Osoona very good guy that gives us cheap prices for food.

On Wednesday we had Inter cambios with Elder Cruz and we did SOME WORK!!

Contacted quite a bit of people and I sent you pictures of my backpack. I attached a waterbottle at the bottom so that my back doesn't get sweaty to put air in between. 

And during the lesson it was my first day with it, I put it on my lap and the bottle was in between my legs and the dad and the sons were all laughing at me and I was wondering why are they laughing is something wrong with my face? So I started watching their eyes and they all started looking in between my legs and the bottle was in between my legs and it looked very bad.  That's all I'm going to say, it almost ruined the lesson. It took an hour to get started with the lesson again.

I think the highlight of the week was when we got a reference from Elder Cruz and Elder Salazar and we went to go contact them at their house and it was a family and we taught them the first lesson and we felt like they were prepared "CHOSEN". It's pretty cool. Pretty cool family, 

it was probably one of the best lesson I taught, it went GREAT!!!  And in the end they gave us cookies, that made it even better.

Thursday we taught 5 other lessons (Investigator lessons) That was such a great day!!!

On that day we didn't have time to plan that day so we didn't plan and that ended up being one of our best days. So we figured if we don't plan we have better days so we are going with that, we aren't planning anymore. (Just kidding Mom)

Friday-NOTHING happened, absolutely NOTHING - we walked and walked and walked.

Nobody was home or weren't able to listen to use until 7:00pm with absolutely nothing then we went to Hermano Davalos and gave him a lesson and we ate. 

Saturday we gave tours and contacted Jehovah Witnesses, they are so funny they don't ever want to listen but they want to teach, not a good teacher.  Then we gave four lessons with Hermano Davalos and he has got to be the funniest old man that I know. He is 80yrs old and so active. He invited an investigator to church and he straight up told him that he wasn't taking NO for an answer, you are coming and that he would be there tomorrow to pick him up so be ready. 

So the next day we went to pick him up and he was sitting out in front of his house,

He said, " I'm not going to go, It's too much of a hassle for me", he has a sickness that only half of his body works, he only has feeling on the left side of his body and he has to go pee very often. 

Then they told him, "we have been teaching you for hours and you haven't had to go to the bathroom, so just come for an hour and we will bring you home and after this one hour you can do what you want."

So the man said, "OK I will go" 

I really think he liked it, He was happy and told us, "I want to see you tomorrow."

Also 2 investigators came to church, the best that I've seen in my area since I've been here.

Javier's family came to church and that was so good to see. This week has been GOOD!!!

LOTS OF GOOD WORK IN ESPERANZA!!!

Today we are going to go to the market and see if we can find some cheap Mexico Soccer Jerseys.

And I'm going to make oreo balls. 

I hope you all enjoy this, I'm standing in the road talking into this little thing and everyone is staring at me weird, but it's ok they don't understand what I'm saying!! I love you all!

ADIOS, HASTA LUEGO!!!

Elder Horlacher

Trevor LOVES food, he said that this burritos reminded him of ALBERTOS!!

Trevor made a contraption to add to the back of his backpack to allow airflow between his back and backpack, because it's so hot. 

He shared a funny story, The first day with his contraption they went to an investigators house and he had his backpack on his lap and totally forgot about his contraption. While holding it on his lap the family was laughing. Trevor was thinking, "What's on my face?" then he followed their eyes to his lap to the waterbottle. He said that they were not thinking good thoughts and it took a while to start the lesson. 

Elder Horlacher & Elder Ramirez with Hermano Davalos

 These Elder's love that Trevor is so strong and big.

Here he is carrying Elder Salazar with Elder Cruz

 ESPERANZA

 Trevor has transfers coming up, so he is trying to take in ALL of Esperanza, just in case

he gets transfered

 He said that these were the scariest stairs that he has ever used.

 Elder Horlacher cutting Elder Cruz's hair after doing his own.

 The finished job of haircuts

 Working out with Elder Ramirez and Elder Salazar

 Trevor has come to LOVE to cook, so he said that he looks forward to breakfast & Dinner

everyday to cook something new. He asked Cambria to send him the Oreo Balls recipe.

Well here are his Oreo Balls in his refrigerator.

 I think his face is like that because he doesn't usually wear long sleeve shirts or a suit.

He's getting ready for Zone Conference.

 Trevor bought himself a green mexico soccer jersey.

The Red one was from Angel before he left on his mission.

 ZONE CONFERENCE