Mission Week 53, Sogamoso Week 6, "¡FELIZ PROSPERO AÑO NUEVO!"

Hello! This week was... AWESOME!

Celebrating Christmas was a little different here for me. I had my first Christmas in the field, but I've already passed my first Christmas in the MTC so I guess thats it haha. It was great to see everyone helping out the Venzeulan's that have been afflicted out here in one way or another. I've learned that the real spirit of Christmas is what we do to help lift the lives of others around us. GO BE THE LIGHT IN SOMEONES LIFE! SERVE THEM! LOVE THEM! PRAY FOR THEM! ACT!!

We have entered transfers as we enter into the new Year. My companion Elder Oliveira is going to Barranca! My new companion is Elder Rosales. He is from Peru.

This last week EVERYONE was out of town in our area. It almost seemed empty. We focused on trying to bring a little of this Christmas spirit to everyone here by sharing the best message/gift into their lives! The Book of Mormon!

Love you all and hope you have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Elder Horton

Columbia Bogota North Mission 2018

The Zone in BogotáThe District in Sogamoso

Mission Week 52, Sogamoso Week 5, "Merry Christmas to All!"

This was a really fun week!

Half of the mission came down to Bogotà this Tuesday. We had a HUGE multi zone. President Valladares talked with us and gave us the energy to take this next year on as a real challenge and go find the people that are waiting for the gospel. We also had a talent show! Our zone performed a few acts haha. The best one was when all the Elders sang "Hacia Belen va una Burra rin rin". I have a video of it I'll try and send it in this email if I have time, but if not I'll get it the next week. On Thursday we all went to a place called "Jaime Duque". It's this Gigantic park/Zoo. I saw a bunch of animals that I've never seen in person before! There is also a whole lot of weird art there. Also there's this exhibit that is a hallway that goes on forever! The hallway explains the evolution of man (from the worlds standards, how we are all just apes that grew up over time). It was really funny. It makes me so grateful for the knowledge that God has given me!

One of our investigators that has been progressing very quickly is Liliana Mona. I talked about her las week. She is AWESOME. She's literally the chosen one haha. Gos has great planes for her. The most recent lesson that we taught her was the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She understands so well! It makes me smile when people understand the Gospel and want to change their lives to align themselves on the path to God! Even though she can't read very well due to her eye problem, she continues to press forward, and having faith that God will help her to understand and to increase her knowledge. I've seen for myself the way she can understand the Gospel so well. It's like it comes so easy to her. God truly blesses those that put their faith in him and do all they can to follow through with what he has commanded. She's always there with us each Sunday too! Even though her life isn't easy, her work is very hard on her, she wants to show God that she has faith in him. I've learned a great lesson with her.

One year has passed by really really fast. Mission time flies by almost as fast as God's time. I've learned so much in just one short year. I can't wait to see what miracles and learning experiences this next year brings!

Love you all! MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!
Elder Horton 

Mission Week 51, Sogamoso Week 4, "Learning New Skills as a ZL"

Hello Family and Friends!

This week we had a whole lot of companion transfers for the day. It was fun to be with all the different companionships. I learned so many new skills from each one of them. We went to Yopal as a secret this week. That means we didn't tell the missionaries there that we were coming. We showed up at the door and they were like oh shoot! haha! I got to work in my old area for the day there. It was great to be back in the old area.

Im studying a lot in Doctrine & Covenants Lately. It's such an exciting book. The Lord is literally talking through it! From reading and pondering a lot I've gained a greater and more powerful testimony that Joseph Smith truly was a prophet called of God to help restore God's true church on the earth today. Like our prophet today Russell M. Nelson it's so cool to think that he really talks with God face to face!!

We are teaching a lady names Liliana Mona. She is 52 years old. We found her contacting in the street. She's from Colombia but she was living in Venezuela. She had to come back because of all the bad things happening there. She's now working as a house maid just to make ends meet. She got really excited hearing about the Book of Mormon. She loves loves loves to read the Bible so it was something new for her that she wanted to discover. We decided to bring her with us to teach her in the house of Emperatriz Jimenez (Member). Emperatriz was so sweet through out the entire lesson. Whenever she would talk with Liliana about the church she would hype her up to get baptized haha. She kept saying, "Liliana after your BAPTISM you're going to be so happy" or "Liliana i know this BAPTISM is going to bless your families life". They were just simple little phrases, and that was all that was needed to invite the spirit in to that lesson. She has a very strong testimony. I love how almost every sentence she said was centered on Baptism. That is the door to open up all these wonderful many blessing that our Heavenly Father has in store. Liliana got very excited after talking with her and hearing her testimony. She told us that she wants to be baptized on the 5th of January! I'm so happy for her!

I love God, I love his teachings, I love his plan, and I'm so grateful to be apart of his work!

Love you all!
Elder Horton

Mission Week 50, Sogamoso Week 3, "Studying from the Scriptures"

Elder Oliveira and I started off the week by traveling to Yopal. It was fun to be able to go back to the old area. It's great to be able to help and learn from the companionships in the zone.

This week Colombia celebrated "El Dia de Velitas" Everyone buys candles and places them all over their houses and they light them all up. It's also a tradition here to drink wine and eat crackers for the rest of the night. Everyone basically gets drunk. What I've heard from a lot of the members here is that The 7th of December the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she was going to be the mother of Jesus. It was cool though because everyone was pretty friendly that night! We also light up some candles and put them outside our window!

We've started heading towards the farm areas in our proselyting area here in Sol. Our area is filled with farms farms farms and lots of dogs that love to attack you. Them puppers are scary looking things. We Don't proselyte where the farms are in the night time because the dogs will eat us.

Something that I've recognized from this week is the importance of knowing what you're studying. Before my mission I knew a lot of the stories in the BOM but,
Something that I enjoyed this week was studying form the scriptures, but studying by using the maps that the scriptures contain. It's gives me a better view and helps me to understand the stories from them. It makes it more real for me as well. I imagine myself that I'm there with these people of old. Sitting off to the side with popcorn in my hands just watching everything go on. Read the scriptures! BUT! Make sure you understand what you're reading and what's going on, who's talking, where are the people, what year is it, everything! I promise you it will make your scripture study a much more thrilling experience! You will also gain a greater testimony of the truthfulness of the doctrine, and have a greater desire to share it with others!

One experience from studying in this way, is when my comp and I were teaching some new investigators that we had found on the street. We knocked on the door and they invited us in the share our message with them. As we explained the Book of Mormon we helped them to understand where this book came from, how old it is, what it contains (The story of Jesus Christ coming the America) etc...we wanted them to understand the importance of the gift that we brought them that day. As they understood their desire to start to read, and pray grew instantly. It was amazing to see the excitement of their faces that there are more answers to the questions we have, more blessings to receive, more knowledge to gain! Helping them understand invited the spirit into the lesson to help testify to their hearts that the message we bring is true! Their names are Yorani, Jesus, and their daughter Stefany. It's a small, but beautiful little family. I'm happy to see them grow their knowledge in the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Love you all! Have a great week! Go scrutinize and get more knowledge haha!

Elder Horton

Impressions of Sogamoso:
1. The dogs here are big and scary, and always want to attack you
2. The sun here burns! It's probably the first time in my life that I've made the decision myself to put on sunblock haha.
3. People here eat every part of every kind of animal. I ate Pigs feet! It was actually pretty dang good!

Lighting up my Candles to Celebrate "El Dia de Velitas"

Our Candles that we set outside the Window

Our Candles that we set outside the Window

P-day with the District in Sogamoso!

Elder Oliveira and I outside the Temple of Bogotá  

Mission Week 49, Sogamoso Week 2, "Traveled to Bogota for Zone Leader Council Meeting"

The zone-leaders in the council meeting in Bogotá this week. It was really fun being able to go back to Bogotá and see a little of my old area. One of the perks of being a Zone-Leader is going to the temple. The day before the council meeting we all get together to go through a session in the temple with the mission president. I had the special opportunity to do a couple of baptisms for the dead. The Temple president came running outside looking to see if there was anyone there that could help with the baptizing. There were two young women who had brought their own names to the temple and wanted to do their temple work. I was able to perform those baptisms! My first time ever in my life doing that! It was so dang cool! Afterwards, I got all dried off and we ran up to the session. It was a little different for me because I went through the temple listening in Spanish. I was always accustomed to grabbing the translators and listening in English during my time in the MTC when we went to the temple. It was special experience to be able to go through and understand listening in Spanish.

The next day was "presentation day." My comp and I have made a plan to help our zone see more success during this transfer. We go up in front of all of the other missionaries and we present what our plan is. The other missionaries and the mission president then give suggestions to help us improve more. What was funny is when we went up to share our plan, we shared it, and none had questions or suggestions. I hope that's a good thing. I think our plan was great though haha. What I've learned is that it will never be enough what we give until the work is done. When we baptize, it should be a continually stream of success (or that is the goal). We are here to help/Invite others to come unto Christ by making everlasting covenants with our Heavenly Father. Our goal is to analyze where our strengths and weaknesses are, and help us to get better!

When we got back to Sogamoso we had stake Conference. When we have stake conference. Lots of citis of Boyacá travel out here in buses. Literally like 7 buses loaded with people arrived in the morning, and everyone piled out to find a seat in the chapel. We learned about how to help in the missionary effort. The best gift that one can give this Christmas is a Book of Mormon! The fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ! Go find someone in need! And invite them to discover eternal happiness. I know that the teachings from Book of Mormon changes lives. I've seen it out here daily!

Love you all! 
Elder Horton  

Mission Week 48, Sogamoso Week 1, "Zone Leader"

It was great week! I got a perspective of how the mission is being a Zone Leader. The key to becoming a great leader is through serving others. We make plans to help the zone improve each and everyday. There are 6 companionships in my zone (Including the District of Yopal). It's weird but fun being in the same zone haha. The zone leaders have the responsibility to see how each companionship in the zone is doing. In order to do that we have companion-exchanges for the day. That means I'm going to be traveling out to my old area in Yopal! We also travel a lot. Which is different for me. We don't get a whole lot of time to work in our area especially this week, because we're going to be in Bogotá for half of the week in meetings with President Valladares. However I'm so grateful for this new opportunity to serve the other missionaries in Sogamoso, and learn how to become a successful leader!

Elder Oliveira and I were able to set two baptismal dates with one person named Mario. He is from Venezuela. He works on an onion farm. The man has almost read through the end of Second Nephi in a matter of 2 weeks. He has the strong desire to find an answer and to know if the Book of Mormon is true. We taught him about keeping the sabbath day holy and promised him that if he came to church this Sunday that he would know the truthfulness of what we speak. He came to church and really loved it and said he felt really good! I don't have pictures with me right now because I left my camera in Yopal! But when I get it I'll start taking pics of our investigators, members and the new area!

For P-Day today, our District headed out to an old town in Duitama. It's called Pueblito Boyacense, Duitama. (PICS BELOW)

Love you all!, 

Elder Horton

Impressions of Sogamoso:
1. Buñuelos is one of my new favorite pastries (Look it up)
2. Where I live it's farm land, there are always cows, Horses, goats, chickens, etc... just chilling on the side of the street or in the grass fields.

Cool Statue in Town

Lots of Colored Houses Here

I match the colored houses of this Street!

Pretty Nice Homes Here

Exploring the New Area

Houses of Sogamoso

The District of Sogamoso by Cool Water Fountain

Pretty Cool Doors here in Sogamoso!

My New Companion and I

Mission Week 47, Yopal Week 12, "Transferring to the City of Sogamoso as a new Zone Leader"

This was a really fast week. Had to be the fastest week of my mission! The days just started flying. Everyone in Yopal got excited to see some changes ready to take place with companionships. We received the transfer call today from our Zone-Leaders. I have been called as the new Zone-Leader (LZ2) in Sogamoso. I will be heading out there tomorrow. I'm so pumped!

This week Elder Ramos and I went to work focusing more on teaching with the spirit and slowing things down a bit. Each week we've worked super hard to find new investigators, but then we failed to follow up with quite a few. I can see the importance of "Following up" as a missionary. Following up with contacts, new investigators, compromises, etc... If you don't keep things organized it makes life really difficult haha.

One of the eternal investigators that we have been teaching (Nidia), has finally made the decision to be baptized. The reason she never was able to is because she was married to a man the she doesn't like anymore, and they have been split up for many years now. They just have never gotten divorced. She has never had the time to get around to it since she's got here own sewing business. This Christmas she's going to make a trip down to where here Ex-Husband lives and they will finalize all of the paperwork. She really wants to be married to Isnardo. He's the man that she's been living with up until now. They really love each other. I'm sad I won't be able to see them get baptized! But happy at the same time to see them take this step in their lives.

Yopal has been a great area to work in for the past three months. The people here are all so friendly and many people have the desire to learn and grow. I'm really going to miss it here!

Questions asked to Elder Horton...
1) How many members in your ward/branch? There are about 950 members in our Branch (about 250 are active)
2) What is the church building like? The church building is like a normal chapel. The only difference is that everything is gated down. There's a huge gate that goes along the perimeter of the church building. The windows and doors are also pretty heavy duty. It's locked down real well. Every chapel also has it's own soccer field.
3) How is the food? What is the best food you've eaten? The food is rice, chicken, and beans. The best food I've eaten is something called the Bandeja Paisa (Look it up in the Internet ITS AMAZING!)
4) What do you usually do on P-day? On P-day we usually play soccer on the field that's in the chapel.
5) Are you sleeping well? I'm sleeping well We go to sleep everyday at 10:30

Love you all hope your week is filled with blessings!

Elder Horton

Impressions of Yopal
1. Don't try to grab an iguanas tail, iguanas attack you with their tail. They try to whip you to death.

I learned how to make my own tie this week. I'm not too bad at sewing!

Mission Week 46, Yopal Week 11, "The Lord is Always With Us"

Coming in with another great week!

Carlos Cardenas was baptized this Saturday! The next day he was confirmed a member and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost in sacrament meeting. He's been radiating with happiness ever since. You can see this atmosphere of energy and love around him. He's a pretty serious guy, but when he shared his testimony he shared a sweet and powerful love for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Something that he said that I loved is, "El agua se quedò negro" or "The water went black" That's really how it is though. He went on to express his gratitude for the Lord for giving him this fresh new start. He's going to do great things for the people here in Yopal!

This Saturday we helped out a Presidente Rojas today whose building his own house wayyyyy outside of Yopal. We got to take a pretty neat hike up to his house. I think we must have crossed some kind of border too because there were a ton of military men walking around with these BIG guns. They stopped us and asked for our "Identification". It was funny because we basically just said oh well, we're missionaries going to do a service project for a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They all turned and looked at each other for a minute and said "Bueno Sigan" or "Fine Pass". I feel like I'm in the jungle out here since it's so dang green in every direction that you look.

The Lord is always with us. When you think he's not there, I would like to invite you to reflect on all of the wonderful many blessing he's given you. It's in those hard times that the smallest of blessings can help us to smile. We sang Count your many blessings during a family home evening this Sunday. I was able to reflect on all of the things that my Father in heaven has blessed me with. I felt of that love, peace, and comfort. I know you guys can have those same feelings too because it's a promise to every single one of his sons and daughters! I know things aren't the best right now in California, but I know that thanks to Jesus Christ, we can all feel of his love that he is constantly showing us. We just need to open our hearts to feel it!

I'm praying for you all daily,  Love you!!

Elder Horton

Impressions of Colombia, Yopal
1. If you want fruit, just go and pick it off a tree that you pass by in the street. Mangos, Carambola, lemons, and oranges are always growing out here.
2. Theres a meat out here called "Carne a la llanera". It's supposedly the best meat in Colombia. (I haven't tried it yet!)

Baptism of Carlos Cardenas with his son Carlos Micheal

Baptism of Carlos Cardenas

Walking to service project with District by a sick looking river

Yopal with Elder Alcantara

River in Yopal

View from Other side of the River

With The Herrera family

Family night with the Tellez Family

Dead armadillo

Mission Week 45, Yopal Week 10, "Little by Little we are going to help this Family be Eternal"

Great week after great week after great week. It's just really hard to have a bad week while you're out here in the mission because you're constantly progressing so when you make mistakes you learn! and you get better! I love constant progression.

My son (greenie) is doing great. He has one powerful testimony.  He's a convert to the church. Everyday he wants to go out and find teach and baptize. And with that I know we're going to see a lot of success here in Yopal.

Last Wednesday was Halloween! I was pumped to go and get a little candy, but then our District Leader called us and told us to be inside before 6:30pm that night. I wasn't too sad missing Halloween since all the candy was just suckers, suckers and suckers. The people don't give out chocolate out here! What is that? If I'm a little boy running around for my sweets I'm looking for the Chocolate! Guess that's just how it is out here.

We met someone really neat during this week named Roselino Moreno. He is about 50 years old and just about the Kindest guys out here in Yopal. We found him just sitting outside his house enjoying the afternoon and as we talked with him he told us that about 2 years ago some missionaries had passed by his house and talked with him a little about the church. He told us that he wanted to learn more about us! We invited him to church and he was excited to come last Sunday. Yesterday we planned a time in the afternoon to go over and talk with him. When we showed up to his house we saw a book of Mormon laid open in his chair. He was reading a chapter that we left for him to read. (3 Nephi 11) During the lesson we focused on the importance of constantly reading and praying to know if the Book of Mormon is true so that he could receive his answer. He Look really excited to start reading! We hope to see him progress in these next coming weeks!

This Sunday was absolutely fantastic. We were able to confirm the Baptism of Carlos Cardenas and his baptismal interview. I'm so happy for him to be baptized into the Lord's true church!

There was another family that showed up to church yesterday. A less active family. They're named the Merchan Family. They have been less-Active for about 15 years. I don't know whole lot about them yet but I can't wait to get to know them this week. Their son Nicolas came up to us and said that we wants to get baptized. Darwin (the father) and Julie (the mother) invited us over to their home that night. When we arrived at there house we talked with them for only a short time because we got there so late and we got lost so many times trying to find their house. They live way way way out in the corner of our area. It's an area that I've never been to until yesterday. They want to be married and sealed in the temple for time and all eternity! First thing we have to do is help them set goals to get married first. Little by little we are going to help this family be eternal! The family consists of 5 people Darwin (dad) Julie (Mom) Nicolas (son 16 yrs old) Marthias (son 7 years old) and Bleidy (daughter 6 yrs. old).

I read a scripture that I really liked this week in Mormon 9:21. Don't forget to put your faith in the Lord first doubting nothing and you will be blessed!

Love you guys!
Elder Horton

Mission Week 44, Yopal Week 9, "Doubt not, but Be Believing."

Lots of miracles passed by this week.

Our investigator Carlos Cardenas accepted a date to be baptized on the 10th of November. You can see that he's ready. He's been coming to church for a straight month now. He comes to church so excited to learn. He told me that this is where he wants to be. I love to see that in people! He has lots of things to worry about right now since he's trying to start up a business and take care of his family. Nevertheless he has so much faith and continues to come to church each Sunday because he can feel it in his heart that this is the true church of God.

We had intercambios this week and I was with Elder McKay. He's from Utah and being trained right now. Towards the end of the day we saw so many miracles. We had a lesson with a lady named Norma Bustos. She is 30 years old and has attended church a few times now. Norma has a many doubts about the church. Starting with all of the "rules" that we have. We explained to her that all of these things are commandments of God and that we have the choice to obey them and receive blessings or Disobey them and not enjoy the blessings. She still wasn't very convinced. we decided to move the subject over to the Book of Mormon. We testified to her that if she reads and prays to know if the Book of Mormon is true that she will come to know that these commandments that we have been given are there to bless us. She calmly responded and told us that she would". I'm excited to see how it went! I was amazed to see how rapidly she calmed down after we gave her the tool to find answers to all of her questions. The gospel is simple. We shouldn't ever complicate things, because that's how the Gospel of Jesus Christ is meant to be! Your testimony can be a few words, but having the spirit with you to testify of those words is enough to convert thousands of souls unto the Lord.

Later that night we had another teaching appointment with a lady named Diana. She has been attending our English classes that offer during the week. We were able to teach her about the Book of Mormon and she had a lot of questions and doubts about it. When we walked into that appointment it felt as if she was trying to ask questions to prove the Book of Mormon wrong and to find a fault in the Book. She was also concerned that it didn't talk about the Virgin Mary. (Everyone we run into out here is Catholic...) One by one we were able to answer every single question she had. After each question, you could see her starting to relax little by little. It was a really cool lesson. At the end we invited her to read the Book of Mormon and ask God in prayer if it's true. She must of liked the lesson because she invited us to come back again. Doctrine and Covenants 100:5 was definitely fulfilled in that lesson. This is the Lords Work.

I read a scripture that I really liked today. It's in Mormon 9:21;27 HAVE FAITH DOUBTING NOTHING.

Have a great week! I love y'all!
Elder Horton 

Mission Week 43, Yopal Week 8, "Baptism amongst Training a New Missionary."

This week was great! On Saturday we had the baptism of Felipe! It was amazing. I had the opportunity to perform the ordinance of baptism. He was confirmed the next day by the President of the Branch.

We have another baptismal date set for a señor named Yolman. He is getting his papers all ready to be able to get married. We hope to see him baptized this next week (27th of October). He's a really great guy. Yolman has been investigating the church for a really long while now. He's finally taking that step to enter into the covenant of Baptism. Funny thing with him is that he's got a bunch of responsibilities in the church (Not callings), and he's not even a member yet haha. He plans cool service projects, parties, and activities for the Branch.

Elder Ramos is learning Spanish so dang fast. It may not be that different of a language, but he's got it pretty much down in a matter of 2 weeks! The gift of tongues is real. We've been working hard finding new people to teach. The people out here are always willing to listen. We just recently found a house with about 15 people living there. Before we left we gave the parents living there a card with the image of Jesus Christ as he's walking out of the Tomb. There were about 10 kids that ran up to us in the house and they all wanted a card too haha. The people here are very friendly.

President Nelson went to Lima, Peru this week. We were able to hear him speak at Lima. They broadcasted the conference to the countries Ecuador, Colombia and Bolivia. He talked about what it means to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He shared with us in 3 Nephi what it really means to preach his Gospel. President Nelson explained to us that preaching the Gospel is focusing on the Atonement of Jesus Christ and inviting others to follow the example of Jesus Christ. He urged us to study 3 Nephi 11-30. That's what I will be studying all next week.

It rains so dang hard here! It also just appears out of nowhere. We'll be walking in the street with the sun out shining and then 15 minuted later it's pouring. I love to walk around in the rain out here since it just cools you off from all the heat. Lightning is always going off in the sky. It's really a sweet view because you can see the Lighting bolts shooting out from the sky!

I keep eating weird things out here. I've never eaten armadillo in my life. That was something new and actually pretty dang good. I've also heard that people eat iguanas and turtles out here. Those are the next two plates on my list!

Love you all!
Elder Horton

The Cruz Family (Ward Member Family)

Baptism of Felipe with his Family

Mission Week 42, Yopal Week 7, "My Son (Elder Ramos) is a Great Missionary."

My new chino came today! His name is Elder Ramos. He turned out not to be gringo. HE´S FROM BRAZIL. He's a really cool dude. The guy is 23 years old (My son lol). He was baptized into the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints three years ago. The man is pure Portuguese. Elder Ramos is learning Spanish right now, but since it's so similar he's getting it down really fast. It feels strange helping a Brazilian learn Spanish haha. He's taught me a few phrases in Portuguese too!

1. eu so de California! (I am from California) and
2. Muito obrigado (Thank you very much!) and
3. Estoy aprendiendo como falar portuguese (I'm learning how to speak Portuguese)

He loves to sing hymns in Portuguese in the house too haha. You better believe that I'm going to learn a lot of hymns in Portuguese.

One of our baptismal dates fell through because Carlos Aranda is on vacations with his 13 year old son and won't be coming back until next week. So we will have to move his baptismal date up.
We were able to confirm and set up a baptismal date for Felipe this week on Saturday! He is one of our investigators that we've been teaching for a while. Felipe is 14 years old with a burning testimony. He wants to be a missionary one day!

"My son" (Elder Ramos) is a great missionary. He has the desire to share the gospel with everyone that we pass by in the streets! I'm having a blast out here with my Chino!

Love you all!
Elder Horton

My Chino! Elder Ramos (Standing next to me)

Happy 13th Birthday to Cristian. Investigator from the Pedroza Family 

All the 6 Missionaries in Yopal and Felipe! (Felipe is in the light blue shirt next to me) 

Mission Week 41, Yopal Week 6, "I'm Going to be a Trainer!"

This General Conference was amazing! President Nelson is truly a Prophet of God. I could just imagine everyone jumping for joy when they heard church was only 2 hours now haha.

This week we had transfers and my companion Elder Pumacondor is going to be leaving for Bogotà to be a zone-leader, AND I'm going to be training!! I'm going to be training a Gringo (North American) I'm so hyped. He will be arriving to Yopal this Thursday. Keep in mind that I'm living in a house with 4 other missionaries. We're all Gringos now! 4 North Americans living out here in Yopal, we'll see how that goes!

We were able to set a baptismal date for a man named Carlos Cardanas. He showed up to church about three Sundays ago. He's been increasing his knowledge in the gospel as he has set ONE hour to study from the Book of Mormon each day. This man is very organized. He's trying to start up a business so for now he's got time! This 20th of October we hope to see him be baptized.

Something that was mentions a lot this conference was taking upon us the name of Christ. When we take his name upon us we promise to follow him. We also promise to help others to come unto him. Remember who you are representing as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day-Saints.

Have a fantastic week!

Love,  Elder Horton

Mission Week 40, Yopal Week 5, "The Great Apostasy is key to helping people understand the need for a Restoration."

Yopal is a pretty dang cool city. It's filled with iguanas, freaky/huge bugs that I've never seen before in my life, and this little Bambi that we found in an investigators house!

Little Bambi

This little girl is called "Niña". She was trying to eat my ear while I was trying to take a picture.

Bambi lives at our investigators home

I've been studying a lot about the Great Apostasy Lately, because everyone out here is always telling us "I've got God, go teach those guys over there who don't know God". I get so mad when they say that. I'm just like, Well...no you don't have the entire truth! Its right here in my hands!! (Book of Mormon). Read it and find out for yourselves! Maybe i gotta learn how to approach it better, but I'm still learning haha. It's hard to see people reject something so perfect. I just want to open their hearts/minds and help them Understand!

The Great Apostasy is key to helping people understand the need for a Restoration. Throughout the New testament, the Apostles are always preaching about a time when God's authority wouldn't be here with us on the earth. My favorite scripture is in Amos 8:11-12. This scripture talks of the hunger and thirst people will have for the word of God. They will run wild to all sides of the world looking for it, but will not find it. Now I don't get what people from the other religions think when they hear that. They all prophesied of an Apostasy, and a restoration! I know that Joseph Smith truly was called of God and that he restored the Church of Jesus Christ to the earth through the direction of God Himself. 4 things were restored, 1. Prophets, 2. Apostles, 3. Priesthood keys, and 4. Revelation.The way to know if Joseph Smith truly did all these things is by exercising a little faith to read, ponder, pray if the Book of Mormon is true!

I read a pretty neat parable about this too. It's in Matthew chapter 13 verses 6 to 43.

One of the families that we are teaching (The Murillo family) has been progressing a lot lately. The family consists of Nelson (father), Joahna (Mother), Felipe (Son), and Diego (Son). They have been having some trouble with the word Charity lately. Each time we visit them, we start by singing a Hymn to invite the spirit. Joahna actually was reading through the hymns and found hymn number 190 that she really likes. In Spanish it reads "Hay un Hogar Eterno" or, "There is an Eternal Home". This Sunday we fasted with them. That was a really spiritual moment to have the entire family there kneeling and asking our father in Heaven to help them grow closer as a family. This was there first fast ever! They did great too! We came back the next day and taught them about the word of wisdom. They all have a little problem with drinking coffee. We were able to commit them all to keep the WOW. The last obstacle is to get them married.

Love you all! 
Elder Horton

We saw the biggest Iguana! It looks like a little dinosaur

Mission Week 39, Yopal Week 4, "We had about 30 investigators come to church this Sunday!"

Our Mission President came to our ward this Sunday.

This week we had a whole bunch of exciting stuff happen!

First off, all the missionaries in Yopal headed out to Sogamoso again. We had our little conference with our Mission President this Tuesday. He shared with us the importance of focusing on the doctrine and not going to over board when we teach. When we teach, we should be simple and bear testimony as much as we possibly can. This will open the door for the people we teach to feel the spirit and testify of our words.

We tried to apply what our president taught us this week. I can say that we've seen much success in following his counsel. He truly has the authority to receive revelation for the MCBN (Mission Colombia Bogota Norte).

This Sunday we had a mountain of investigators come to church. We had about 30 investigators come to church this Sunday! (That is divided between 3 companionships) It was a great Sunday to be there as well because our mission President was able to be there. He mad changes to the Presidency here in the Rama. He also announced that 2 stakes will soon be here in Yopal. We are having trouble getting a stake created because there are so many less active members. We literally have a list of about 987 people that we need to go visit. One by one we're getting it done.

Yesterday night, just before returning to the apartment, we were standing outside waiting for the other companionship to arrive. While we were waiting this drunk man showed up from around the corner of our building. He had his beer bottle in his hand and he yelled to me and said "Hey you!". He slowly waddled over to me. My heart started beating super fast. I don't know why I didn't run... He Got right in front of me and told me "Give me your phone" ( I was confirming appointments). He put his hand out and rested it on my shoulder and I was like ah pailas I threw it... But! He looked at me for a second and then said "AW Naw man your cool!" And then he just waddled away. There are always drunk guys here in the street yet that was my first encounter with one haha. The Lord is always there protecting his children!

Also! Just because it was super funny, this morning when we got up, we walked out into the kitchen and everything was just flooded. The floor was soaked with water. I walked over to our washing machine and water was just flooding out of it. Our washer machine works a little differently because we don't have water. We have to manually put in the water with a little hose. I had stuck the hose in the washer machine the night before, and left it running ALL night long! The water was almost covering our feet walking around. We ended up pushing it all out with broom sticks.

Loves to y'all! 
Elder Horton

Impressions of Yopal:
1. Taxis here are very cheap. We end up paying like 5 mil to go considerably long distances.
2. When something doesn't go your way here in Colombia the people will say the word "Pailas"
3. There are so many iguanas here!

My zone making a Pyramid

Hand stand one arm

My Missionary Tag

My Zone at La Playa Blanca

Elder PumaCondor and I at La Playa Blanca

Parrot

Elder Peterson (In my group from the MTC) and I

     

Mission Week 38, Yopal Week 3, "Tried eating armadillo, It's actually good"

This week was sick cool! I got some nice pics too.
Many exciting things happen that you can never explain them all. 

I honestly cannot remember what happened this week haha! I do remember that the President of the mission is coming to the area next week. He's going to be making changes to the Rama (Branch) of Yopal!

I'll send lots of pics next week Que Pena! 

Love you all

DAD look what I ate this week! It's actually super Bomb. Its armadillo!

Mission Week 37, Yopal Week 2, "Put every bit of trust you have and give it to the Lord"

I don't know any other way to start an email without "This week", What a great week" etc...lol

THIS WEEK was yet again another amazing one full of miracles. Elder Pumacondor and I didn't have a whole lot of time to work in our area because half of the mission got called into Bogotá. A member of the seventy, Elder Held came to our mission on Friday. Funny thing about traveling here in Yopal, we're out in the middle of nowhere. We have to take a bus to a place called Sogamoso. It's a 6 hour bus ride. Then, from there, we have to take another bus to Bogotá, which is about 5 hours. Elder Held talked about many important things concerning the missionary work, but we also had the opportunity to listen to Elder Held's wife. She talked about "Pensamientos" or "Thoughts". The human brain has about 6,000 thoughts daily (According to what she said). All of us are always thinking about different things, and images go flying into our heads and back out again. If you guys would like to, read about "thoughts" in the dictionary in the Book of Mormon and you can do a little more studying there. Something interesting that it says in there is that we all have been given the power to think for ourselves. We all have our agency to choose. She related it to staying focused in the mission field, but! She also related it to being happy and staying positive, along with keeping bad images out of our minds. Now go get your Doctrine and Covenants and read chapter 6 verse 36. This verse had a changing effect on me that will stay with me forever. It says to Look unto the Lord un every thought, never doubting and never fearing. I put the words never in there because that's how I understood this scripture. If we have the Savior in our minds in every decision that we make, how could we choose the wrong instead of the right? You're either going to choose the right or recognize the wrong choice you made and you'll know what you need to do to get better and improve on. If the Lord is always in your thoughts, then you will always be able to make the right decisions. The only thing is, we aren't perfect. If we kept our minds on the Lord for every 6,000 one of those thoughts we would be pretty dang close to perfect. I know that if we will all try to keep our thoughts centered on the Lord that we will be happier, that you will smile more, and that your outlook on the burdens of life will become calmer and filled with peace. Put every bit of trust you have and give it to the Lord and I promise each and every one of you as a representative of Jesus Christ that your lives will be blessed. You will be filled with the spirit more abundantly, to help guide you and keep you safe from sin.

We've been running around like crazy here trying to find new people to teach on the daily. It was a little hard to find a whole lot of people because we didn't get back from our area until Sunday at 3 in the morning. I love to talk to people here. We literally found a family of about 10 just sitting outside. We went up and introduced ourselves and asked them if they'd be interested in hearing about a message of Jesus Christ. they were all down to listen.

Other than that we were able to set 2 baptismal dates this week with a mom (Maryeri) and her daughter (Maria). The father of the family (Carlos) has already accepted a date to be baptized on the 29th of September. We taught this family after a sacrament meeting and they are very excited to get baptized! they love the church and the feeling they have each time they come. Maryeri came up to us and told us that she and her husband aren't married and wanted to know if that would affect them getting baptized. We asked them if they would be willing to get married. She told us that getting papers all signed would be a little of a hassle, but that she wants to get married as well! I hope we can get everything all worked out before their baptismal dates!

Love you all! Have a great week!
Elder Horton

Impressions of Yopal:
1. This week I ate this sick food called Chiguiro! It's this fat rat/beaver(with his tail cut off) type of animal. It's actually not too bad. I'd recommend it!
2. Humidity is off the charts (it´s so dang hot)
3. The people from Yopal are called "janeiros"

Eating food with Elderes from Yopal and Hermana Nury

food from Peru called Arroz chaufa

Mini washer we found in a store

Restaurant called Nefi (Nephi)

"La Virgin" 

View of all of Yopal 

Hitting the whip off a wall looking out to Yopal 

Eating lunch with Investigators, Nidia, and Salvador

Yummy plate of food called "Costilla"

My new comp Elder Pumacondor