Week 9 - District Pictures!

Week 8 - a Baptism

Hello!! It has been a great week with lots of meetings and a BAPTISM!! 

Aletha was baptized on Saturday and it was so great! We went to the church early to fill the font and Aletha was so anxious and excited she came early too! The baptismal service was amazing and there were a lot of people there to support her. When she was in the font I couldn't stop smiling. There is nothing better than seeing someone you love enter the waters of baptism. She was so happy! One of my favorite parts was at the end Aletha shared her testimony and her conversion story and it was so great. I love her so much! 

This week I also got to see my friends who I was with at the MTC! We had a meeting on Friday for all of the new missionaries and their trainers. It was a lot of fun.Even though we had to get up even earlier than normal to drive to Utica it was worth it. :) The Spirit is always really strong in meetings where we get to hear from President Rogers. He's the best. 

Amazing miracle this week. 

We were tracting last weekend and when people aren't home we leave a little card that has our number on it. We got a call the next day from one of the houses we went to and I was soo excited because that never happens. He asked us to come over that night and teach him more. We did of course and he is the coolest. He told us all of these incredible spiritual experiences he has had during his life and he just went to the Hill Cumorah Pageant a few days before and loved it. He met Mormon missionaries before and had a Book of Mormon and had recently been starting to read it again and a lot of other cool stuff. He told us a few times that he wants to be baptized. He actually thought the church had told us to go visit him because he said he wanted to learn more when he went to the Pageant. But we beat them to it! We found him before we even got the referral! Biggest miracle. He is so ready and prepared. We are super excited to see him again. God is so aware of all of us! Everything worked out so perfectly for things to turn out like they did. 

I love this gospel and I am so grateful to be a missionary! This Church really is the true church on the earth today. I can't wait to see what the rest of my mission holds but this last month has been pretty great! 

I love you all!! Have a super fun week! 

Week 7

Hello!!

It has been a good week! We have been busy planning for Aletha's baptism and we had exchanges with the Syracuse sisters!

Lots of miracles happened but there's a few I wanted to share.

Miracle #1 We went over to this super awesome family's house yesterday who we have taught once before and they didn't answer the door so we were about to leave and I was really sad because I really wanted to teach them. But then their dog came to the fence on the side of their house because he heard us and their 7 year old daughter came out to get her dog. I asked her if her parents were home and if she could go get them. She said yes and went to go get them for what seemed like a long time but then she came back and said her mom was in the garage. We went over there and taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it was a super great lesson. I invited her to be baptized and she said yes! I love them so much. I'm so grateful for those little miracles. 

Miracle #2 We had just gotten out of our car and we were walking to the door of one of our investigators and a man in a truck stops us and says he can feel our Spirit and kept thanking us for what we are doing. It was so nice. I love tender mercies like that. He definitely brightened our day. We are hoping to go over to his house this week and talk more with him. 

Miracle #3 One of our investigators came to church last week and we taught him again during the week and he said he would be out of town on business this weekend so he couldn't come to church but during a baby blessing during Sacrament meeting he walks in!! We were so surprised! And he stayed for all three hours it was awesome!

Funny story... (keep in mind that my area covers three cities--Mattydale, Cicero, and North Syracuse)

We were at a members house having dinner and I was asking them questions to get to know them a little better and I asked "How long have you been living in Syracuse?" Then right after that before they could answer I said to my companion "Wait, are we even in Syracuse?" That made everyone laugh. Good thing I have only been here a few weeks haha They actually lived in Cicero. 

We had exchanges this week with the STL's and it was super fun to spend time with them and teach their investigators! I like Syracuse a lot. We taught a guy who is from Chile and he only speaks Spanish and the member who usually translates couldn't go so we just used his phone (google translate). He gave us a bag of frozen chicken legs and a gallon of ice cream. It was cool, super random and funny. It was hot that day so we didn't really know what to do. We ended up giving the ice cream to the investigator we were teaching next because it had already started to melt.

When we were about to leave the STL's apartment it started to rain like I have never seen before. It was POURING. We went outside for two seconds to get in the car and we got soaked. We were a little scared to drive home because some of the streets were starting to flood but we got home safely. Good thing for prayers. It was kinda fun though. 

Remember how I said the humidity wasn't bad? Yeah I take that back haha it has been a hot and humid week. 

One thing I noticed this week is how grateful I am to have had such an easy life. We have talked to people who come from all walks of life and have gone through more trials than I can imagine but they are happy because God got them through it. So many people have said without God I wouldn't be here today. It is incredible what Christ and His Atonement can do. Remember this week to be grateful for your blessings!!

Love you all!! 

Sister Horne

Lake Onondago for the 4th of July. It's one of the most polluted lakes in the US so thats nasty haha

The Sunsets here are the BEST!!

Exchanges with Sister Dillard (left) and Sister Walker

This one makes me laugh haha. Sister Case has great photography skills :)

I look like a painting!

All the food on the table was given to us by a member

#stealingfromoldladies #perksofmissionlife

Right before we were leaving the STL apt. there was a HUGE rainstorm. 

More rain than I've ever seen- and I thought I knew rain.

The street was flooded so bad right then, it's kinda hard to tell in the pic - but it was!

We made a chalk drawing of the plan of salvation with our #

No one has called us, but it was still fun. 

Week 6 - Happy Independence Day!

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!! Yay America!! Yay religious freedom!

Sorry I don't have a lot of time so this one is going to be short.

It has been a really great week! The days go by so fast. We have been teaching a lot of lessons and we are doing more service! We are going to be serving at a place called Meals on Wheels where they make and deliver meals to elderly people. We are going to be baking there. I'm excited it should be fun!

More of our investigators are on date to be baptized and we are so excited for them!! These next few months are going to be great. Baptism really is so important. It will be a day that they will never forget. 

The members here are so nice and friendly. I love getting to know them. The members houses we have gone to for meals all have little kids and it is so hard to not hold their baby or play with their kids but I'm resisting haha 

So much happens in a day its hard to write about it in an email!

I am doing great though. I love being a missionary and being able to focus only on the gospel all the time. This week is going to be really fun and busy-we are going on exchanges in the big city! (Syracuse) I'm really excited!

I LOVE YOU ALL!! Have a great week and Fourth of July!! 

Sister Horne

We went to Panda last week on pday and I was so happy you have no idea. It was the best. God loves me so much that He sent me to my first area where there is a new Panda Express. hahah Theres only a few in our mission. 

I thought my fortune was pretty great...

 

A family we visited had ferrets and it was so fun to hold them!!

 

She is getting baptized on the 16th. I love her so much!

Happy 4th of July!!