Week 6, Columbia Bogota North Mission, "Transferred from MTC to the Mission"

Columbia Bogota MTC, "Ankle Sprain Miracle, Updates by MTC Mission Mom and President"

He is doing great!  In fact, it is miraculous.  The X-Rays are negative for breaks or tendon damage.  He is being very obedient.  I think he was just so relieved that there was no serious damage that after the Xray he was hopping around with a grin on his face.  Last night we started him on some ibuprofen which seemed to do the trick.  He sat through dinner and devotional and slept well and has not needed any since.  I was just in his classroom and he has his ankle elevated on a pillow on a chair and he says he feels great.  He is being obedient with the ice and with the ace bandage.  We should get him moving around by tomorrow.

We are all just thrilled with his positive attitude and with his progress.  He should be able to leave the MTC as scheduled with his group on Tuesday morning.  President Laney, his Mission President, is an ER doctor in his other life, so he will be well cared for.

Love this missionary!  Thanks for sending him to us!

Hermana JoElla Hansen
CCM de Colombia
+57 (318) 651-4777


Dear Bro. Horton,

I took this photo of Elder Horton’s two feet about 10 minutes ago. This is truly miraculous.  There is no bruising, the ankle is almost normal-sized, he does not limp.  He is just fine and chomping at the bit to leave on Wednesday morning.

Saludos cordiales,

Pdte. Hansen

Week 5, Columbia Bogota MTC "Sprained Ankle"

This week was AWESOME! haha!

Ok so for P-days here we usually are playing fútbol and I get super intense ninja like during the games because my moves are too good. Today it wasn't so successful. I was taking the ball down the cemented court and was doing pretty great; making these moves past each Latino like a boss. I had em all stunned because of my gringo power. All of the sudden I'm at the goal and attempting to take this amazing shot, but Elder Meneses (my roommate) didn't back down so I switched directions really fast (remember ninja like skills) and my foot got stuck under the ball and when I made my move to go forward I heard a "CRRRAACkKKKk" I don't know any other way to describe it haha. I looked down at my ankle and BOOM a baseball was inside my ankle all of the sudden. I flipped out probably a little but my manliness overcame the pain :). What was very special to me at that moment was every one that was there immediately ran over and suggested to give me a priesthood blessing right then and there. The other Elders here are really caring and I'm grateful for the blessing they gave me It's been helping me already. Holy heck that hurt so bad!! BUT don't even worry about it because I think it's actually pretty cool! I've never ever ever in my life sprained or broken anything. Now I know what it feels like! haha! We had to drive to a Doctors office real quick so I could get it checked out. We found out there that it was sprained. They keep trying to get me to sit in a wheelchair but I'm not having none of that. Hoping around has been fun for the past couple hours. Sister Hansen (CCM President's wife) gave me some medicine that works really well.

This was kind of funny that it happened at this particular time too because our last couple lessons with the Real-fake-Investigator have been on how we can overcome trials. I had read somewhere in Mosiah that if we just push forward with faith and trust in the Lord that all will be well. AND that's what I'm going to do! Alright, I'm a missionary so time to relate this experience.The moral of the story is, just read the Book of Mormon! It gave me the strength and knowledge I need, to know that no matter how many trials come into my life, the lord will always be there with me every step of the way. Or as my brother Stephen told me "The lord will be there guiding you always, Holding your hand every step of the way." If this Book can help me to feel hope and happiness every single day, then why not you too!? READ IT! and I promise you that no matter what you may be going through, that you will find comfort through the teachings in the Book of Mormon.

 CHECK OUT THESE SICK SHOTS!

ELDER HORTON...DISTRICT BLESSING

Week 4, Columbia Bogota MTC "Touched by the Scriptures"

Hola Mundo! This week has again been full of feelings from the Spirit. In my personal study I focus really hard on each chapter of the Book of Mormon. Right now I'm in Mosiah studying and i wanna share with you how much I've learned just from a few short chapters. Mosiah 4: 16-26 talks about how we are to serve our fellow man. Whenever you see someone in need PLEASE stop to help them in anyway you can! The Lord sent us here to love and help one another. In Mosiah 6:16-17 it speaks of "seers" These guys are like prophets but they can see the future and things of the past! ONE more that I want to share that completely gave me chills when I read it was in Mosiah 13:3 when Abinadi is preaching to King Noah and the priests, Abinadi says "TOUCH ME NOT, FOR GOD SHALL SMITE YOU IF YE LAY YOUR HANDS UPON ME" That just made me go oh shoot. I sat there and imagined King Noah and the priests when they were trying to lay their hands on Abinadi and all the sudden he speaks those words. They were probably cowering and like oh-oh-uh- please don't hurt me. Haha! The power of the Lord amazes me!

Another great experience I had was we learned a lot about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. In Luke 22:41-44 Christ is in the Garden Of Gethsemane about to take on the sins of the world. He kneels down to the father in Humble prayer and says "Father, if thou be willing remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." NOW go to Mark 14:36 and you will see that it is in the same scenario BUT Jesus says "Abba" which is a meaning in Hebrew of being super close to someone, and in this context it means Dad. This made my eyes full of tears. Jesus Christ was asking his Dad, Heavenly father, if there was another way. Please think about that for a minute. Remember Jesus Christ is literally Heavenly Fathers son. NOW go back to Luke 22, and read verse 43. As Jesus is taking upon him the sins of the world an angel appears unto him to comfort him. That angel is Micheal (Adam). The same man that helped Jesus Christ create the world that we live in. Heavenly Father saw how much pain his son was going through and sent him his best friend to comfort him. Just to let you know how much pain Christ actually went through think about this, if a normal man suffered enough pain to make him bleed from just ONE single pore he would die from the excruciating pain. Now think about bleeding from every pore. That's how much pain he went through for us. I love my savior so much, and I am forever in debt to him for the love he has shown me. I hope that you would feel the same. The last scripture I want you guys to read is Hebrews 6:4-6, think about this and ponder it. Please do everything in your power to Hold fast to the iron rod, keep the commandments, study and ponder the scriptures (which is also a commandment) and Repent!!! and come unto Christ.

I love you all and I'm praying for you always!

Love, Elder Horton

Week 3, Columbia Bogota MTC "Teaching by the Spirit"

Hello world! So three weeks have gone by incredibly fast here. The days have been filled with intense study, prayer, and learning. We were informed of the passing away of President Monson a few days ago. I know that he was a true prophet of God.

My companion and I Elder Foutz, have been working hard everyday here. We have set our goals for what we want to accomplish here at the CCM. I'm so grateful that he is my companion because he knows how to work hard.

We watched a talk on Elder Holland, He spoke of "The Divine Companionship" I have to keep this short but what he basically said was that the Spirit is a must when teaching, and that it is impossible to truly teach someone without it. The spirit testifies of our messages truthfulness.

I want to tell you about an experience i had while proselyting about a week ago....We went to an investigators house named Veronica and since me and my companion are just being trained we went with an Elder named Elder Johnson. When we made it inside we had planned to teach her the WoW (Word of Wisdom). She was an amazing lady! You could tell she had a complete desire to learn and want to know more about our church. We got to the point in the lesson where we committed her to stop drinking coffee since that was here favorite drink. I was able to share my testimony with her... I'm telling you right now I had no idea what i was going to say to her. I was super nervous because I didn't know a lot of words let alone how to say much! But...I felt the words come to my mouth! They really truly did! I was able to get in words that she understood. My testimony went a little like this..."I know that the Word of Wisdom will bless your life. I know that if you drink coffee less and less each day that you will be blessed, because in my life I've felt the strength from following that commandment (and I listed a few examples). I ended with that and I knew that was the spirit that led and guided me I know it!!

Love you all and hope everything is going well for all you. I pray for you all everyday!

Love, Elder Horton

Week 2, Columbia Bogota MTC "Stuffing My Brain"

HEY everyone! Elder Horton Here. The last two weeks have been totally crazy! First of all Christmas here is on the 24th of December. Everyone here goes flippin wild! Im pretty sure i heard gunshots throughout the night but maybe they were just fireworks. We got to tune in for a special Christmas devotional for the next day. Neil L. Andersen spoke and gave an awesome message on the Saviors birth. The following days after that we went straight to work learning Spanish. Everyday since then has been stuffing my brain with words, phrases, and scriptures. Ive learned so much in just 2 short weeks! We also had the opportunity to go the the Bogotá Temple! It's my new favorite temple! The temple itself is small but I love that about it because it helps me to focus and the important reasons of why we're there. The Latinos here LOVE to play Fútbol. I love getting in to games with all of them because whenever a white guy or "Gringo" scores a goal they all get hyped. My favorite experience so far out here on the mission was we had to opportunity to go proselyting with missionaries in the field and I've never done this before in my life, so I was pretty nervous to go. Elder Johnson was my trainer for the day and he was such a cool guy. One of our appointments did fall through so he said oh well lets start contacting people on the street. We ended up getting 3 new investigators just like that! I was amazed at how willing people were to stop everything they were doing to listen to our quick message! He taught me that sometimes you just gotta go for it and let the spirit do the rest! This week we watched a video for new years eve and Elder Bednar talked on how we can become more successful missionaries. He said "A testimony is not enough, it's a start, but your goal is to become converted unto Christ" That's not all he said but thats what hit me the hardest. I now know the difference between a testimony and conversion. He said the best way to become truly converted unto to Lord is to forget yourself and get to work. INSTANTLY I felt chills all throughout my body. Remember that gaining a testimony is just the first step. The next is to become converted unto the Lord! I love you all!

At the bottom of Mount Monserrate, the highest mountain top in Bogota, Columbia,

Halfway up Mount Monserrate

Looking down from Mount Monserrate

 In front of the 1600s Catholic church building on top of the mountain

ME AND MI AMERICAN MTC COMPAÑERO ELDER FOUTZ