Pics of the 3rd week in Esperanza-Elder Islas

 Trevor LOVES hot dogs, last week he ate a hot dog off the street (vendor)

and got very sick afterwards. He thinks it was probably dog meat, 

but what is exactly HOT DOG MEAT??

 So he bought hot dogs from Sam's Club, that he knew were American.

He puts it between slices of bread and is a happy elder!!!

 His first rain in Mexico

 My handsome missionary who cut his own hair with his clippers.

This was his first time experimenting with his new clippers. 

 Not too bad of a haircut!!

 I don't know what this is, but it looks edible.

 I really don't know what the "eyes closed" look is all about!!

 Elder Horlacher with Elder Walker - his MTC companion

 Elder Horlacher's desk, the screen is a language helper.

He absolutely LOVES his home!!!

 My boy absolutely LOVES donuts!!!

Looks like he found a place that sells donuts!!

 He and his companion walking to church. 

Week 3 in Esperanza-Elder Islas

Hola!! sorry for the day delay... i went to get my visa finalized in a town far away...

So this week has been a strange week, it felt slow but went sooo fast at the same time?? haha So Tuesday we walked and had no success, just walked, knocked, and no answer for the two days Tuesday and Wednesday. Then Wednesday night we started teaching Joshua, who is 12 and has a baptism date, so it was going all good, we even got his younger brothers and sisters to calm down and all was good, we felt the spirit, then his parents came home and all changed. He immediately went in side, so that ended in a kinda bad way... but his parents are catholic soo... ya Tuesday and Wednesday were rough. But I knew that Thursday had to be better!!  So we met with the ward mission leader to try to get the ward more involved. Then we went and met with his family, then taught another investigator who tells us she feels the spirit with us but always has so many questions... like about prophets and certain stuff... she knows the Book of Mormon is the word of God but doesn't act on it... and I can't help in the lessons much cause I hardly understand.. but it goes good I think haha, but from there we went to teach Rafeal and Leonarda, we taught about commandments and they committed to keep the law of chasity and W.o.W then to top it off we've committed them to come to church... 

Friday we went to Obregon to go to our zone conference, I got to meet our zone for the first time, they are really cool, fun, great missionaries, great examples. But from there I started my first inter cambio. I was comps. with Elder Arronez for a day, it was pretty great, he's from Peru, and only has 2 months left on his mission.  He taught me a lot. Then I went and slept on the hardest bed I have ever slept on... haha (no joke! holy cow.. I had back problems the next day:) haha but also that night I ate two doggos (hot dogs) from a stand on the street and I think that they gave me my first stomach problems here in Mexico... haha

Saturday I got to see how another district does their tours for the church. They make hand made limonada, then they have signs and stand on the street and yell at cars and people "Limonada Gratis, es gratis" haha  It works! They have a lot more tours then we do... but they are in the city and have a lot more traffic... but I really like their district, they actually made me feel comfortable to yell that at cars and stuff... I was surprised:). It help me a lot.. Then Saturday night we went to a cemetery to teach people about the plan of salvation on the Day of the Dead(dia de muerte). My first thought was, "there is no way this is going to work"... but the people were TOTALLY responsive and liked the message!! It was soo cool, I got to try contacting... haha , quite hard for me right now... but I would always teach a little then bare my testimony about the Plan of salvation and how I have a Grandpa that is passed away but I know I will see him again and how they can see their loved ones too! It was a great experience, the spirit was really strong! I was really nervous at first but then after the first one, I know that grandpa helped me and comforted my nerves. 

Sunday - I bore my testimony in sacrament , then all the other missionaries followed me haha funny. But man I had my wobbly knees again,  haha it was really frightening being in front of Spanish speakers bearing my testimony in Spanish haha but it was great! 

Monday - I went to Guaymas for my Visa. But I woke up at 3:00am to get ready, took the bus to Obregon, waited in the bus station for an hour. I got to meet up with my MTC district!! HOORAY!! Drove to Guaymas, saw the California gulf, ate Little Ceasers, doughnuts, then I got back to Esperanza at 6 and we had a family home evening with a family. So that's why I didn't write yesterday. But every one in my old district is great, they are loving it. and even better I bought a tres leches cake!!!! I ate half of it that night haha IT'S SOO GOOD! man it was pretty expensive tho... 100 pesos haha worth it... (ONLY 8 dollars in us).. 

But I love all of you! I miss you all every day!! I am having a good time, time is starting to speed up.. haha already has been 3 weeks in the field! WHAT, Almost a month!!! haha 

LOve Elder Horlacher

 Mutual Night with the youth in Esperanza

and playing basketball for mutual

 The creepiest ice cream truck in Mexico

 Zone Conference

 Trevor telling Sydnee, "Happy Birthday & I love you!!!"

 Trevor's Companion for the day, Elder Arronez during zone conference

 The Flower Market for the DAY OF THE DEAD CELEBRATION

 Trevor's companion asleep on the chairs

 The Gulf of California

 Traveling with some of the missionaries to fix their visas.

 Reunited with the elders that he was with in the MTC.

 Trevor saw our car and was missing us!!

 Trevor LOVES Tres Leche Cake

 He was soooo excited to eat this cake!!!

Week 2-Esperanza-Elder Islas

HOLA Familia,

So this week has been good, but really HOT... haha This week we haven't been keeping up to our set standards so we did a district fast, and I saw the blessings of that, the day of!! EVERY  investigator or members house we went to had some friends or family over that we ended up teaching and getting their info, and setting up appointments for this week! So i'm really excited for that! and this saturday i got to witness my first babtism here! it was way cool, but alot of work goes into getting the font and church clean for the babtism haha we got notice of the babtism at 3 30 that saturday and started cleaning and getting everything ready for 3 hours, it was so great. 

Also we tried giving tours of the church and give free limonade to people passing the church with some lessons but the people just werent taking the bait haha ;) we only gave 2 tours and gave out alot of pamphlets, and were left with 5 gallons of limonade.... haha 

I got to play soccer today, it was really a lot of fun but it gets so hot... wow we were playing as sponges, drenched in sweat haha and we are going to carve pumpkins for Halloween as a district so that should be fun.

But I LOVE IT OUT HERE, the work is hot, hard on the feet, hard on the mind (Spanish....) but all in all REALLY KINDA FUN and EXCITING! the spanish is coming slowly... haha but i see improvement everyday! I finished the Book of Mormon this week and man it is the most true thing in this world haha like it made me love reading which is really hard haha I got one of the most amazing comforting, warming feeling reading Moroni 10:3-5, i know for a fact this gospel is true, that Jose Smith is a true prophet of god, yo se que eso el libro de mormon es palabras de dios, y eso dios nuestro amoroso padre celestial ama me y ustedes mucho, yo puedo sentir su ama para me cada dia! God works in mysterious ways so work to know him! i love all of you and hope you know that! perdon me espanol testimonio jaja ;) 

Love, Elder Horlacher

Pictures from Esperanza-Elder Islas

 My handsome boy

Walking, Walking, Walking!!!

So glad to see that he has his water bottle filtration system, instead of Coke!!!

 Trevor wanted to show us this huge tree!!!

 The missionaries gave tours of the church building and gave our Book Of Mormons & Limeade.

 My missionary with his companion, Elder Islas

 The baptismal font 

 Walking home from a long day at the church giving tours.

I love my missionary!!!

Trevor said that this was a typical meal: Chicken, Tortillas and COKE! Yuck!!