January! It's almost over!!!

Hey everyone! So this January has been a pretty good month :) I'm especially excited for this week, because we have some fun events coming up!

  On Wednesday, Toby is getting baptized! We asked his mom to come as well and she agreed to it :) We're VERY happy that he's able to be baptized now. He's so excited to receive the Priesthood.

  On Friday, we're going to Dallas to see Elder Russel M. Nelson. I'm excited to see all my friends that I haven't seen in a while. I love when we have big meetings in Dallas for that reason.

  On Saturday, Tina's getting baptized! I love Tina so much, she has really grown so much since I met her. I thought she'd never quit smoking, but she wants to be baptized so bad that she's done it! and it will be a great thing to see her enter the waters of baptism.

  This is my companion's LAST full week on a mission. It's crazy that he's going home already! I will soon have a new companion and I hope that I like whoever I get! I'm sure I will. I never like change though, so hopefully it will be easy this time.

  On Sunday, Faye got sustained in her calling as Relief Society Newsletter Editor. It was awesome. Then she invited us to go with her to get her Patriarchal Blessing. I was so pleased that she invited us and that we got to be a part of it. It was awesome.

  Also, on Sunday, Zack blessed the sacrament for the first time! It's crazy to see these people growing so much and doing new things. It's really incredible.

  The Robisons, yet again, took us to Yamatos and bought me Filet Mignon. I would die for that stuff. I'm serious I love it so much. I also love the Robisons so much. They are the kindest, funniest, and strongest people I know out here.

  We visited Lisa last night and she is the best as well. So are Corinne and Colton. Needless to say, I love the people out here and love that I get to be a part of their lives.

 I hope everyone at home is well. I miss y'all more than you know.

- Elder Needles -

Random Pictures for the blog

4 Month Mark

Hey Everyone! Guess what! Two days ago, I hit my 4 month mark! I've been gone for over four months! Can you believe it? It's crazy I'm already 1/6 of the way done! This week was definitely a great week. So my very first investigator (Toby) moved back to East Texas! We were excited to see him! When we were teaching him, he wanted to be baptized, but his mom wouldn't let him. I've had many "discussions" with her about baptism and authority that frustrated her, but they ended up moving so we had to drop him as an investigator. When he moved back, we found a ride for him to come to church and we set up an appointment for Sunday night. When we went, his mom said she prayed about it and decided that he can get baptized!!! We were so excited! His date is Wednesday the 28th (it's coming up!) and we're so glad he's wanting to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized. Also, Tina is doing well! Her baptism interview is this Wednesday! So things are looking up for her as well :) This week, I went on yet ANOTHER exchange with Elder Hafen. It was a lot of fun to be in Tyler for the day. I love Tyler, Texas. It's such a great place. Other than that, not much has happened, but that's okay! I am growing closer and closer to Christ out here and it's such an awesome thing. Hope Everybody's week was great and I can't wait to see all your replies to my emails! Love you all.
JOSH

This is one of Josh's last weeks with Elder Horrocks. On February 4th he will return home to Heber City, Utah after completing his 2 years of service in Texas. Josh will surely miss his time with him. :)

Thanks to Faye for the great picture! It sure looks pretty there!

Kind Words From Whitehouse

Hi Jenny....
Can I tell you that I just love your son. He is such a great missionary! I was teaching young women this week about the Godhead and I asked the missionaries if they would come and talk about the first vision....because if you have a testimony of that, you know that Heavenly Father and Christ are two separate individuals. So they came in and your son started reciting the first vision. He has such a testimony of this....He was emotional, I was, the girls were. It was a beautiful thing. He's a great missionary. Hope you got a good email today! Have a great week!

Sister Tammy Link

Picture of the week!

Hey everyone! Happy P-Day! It's been a pretty good week. I got to go on an exchange and go to a Spanish speaking area with Elder Mikesell! It was a really cool experience. Elder Mikesell is also one of my favorite missionaries out here. He's such a cool guy and so it was good to do something new with him. I thought I knew a little bit of Spanish, but when I went on this exchange I realized just how much I DON'T know, haha. Mainly all I could say was mucho gusto and Soy Elder Needles. It got boring after a while not knowing what people were talking about, haha. But it was a much needed exchange and I'm glad I got to do that. On Saturday, my companion and I were tracting in the rain. It was super cold. This lady got really freaked out when we knocked on her door. Apparently she had just moved in and didn't know why two men dressed in black were knocking on her door at 8 PM. She didn't answer and ran and got in her car. After we were done, she chased us down in her car, honking and swerving and yelling at us to stop. When we stopped she asked who we were and looked like she was hyperventilating. When we told her we are missionaries she looked like she felt dumb for freaking out, haha. So we went and bought her Cinnamon Rolls and left them and a book of Mormon on her doorstep apologizing for giving her a heart attack. So we had three investigators drop us this week (That was not fun at all). And one of our investigators HAD to be at church this week in order to get baptized and he didn't show because of the Cowboys game. AND THE COWBOYS LOST... So it wasn't the best Sunday for anyone. Especially my companion because he's an avid Cowboys fan. Anyway, hope y'all have a good week! Thanks for reading and emailing me! Love ya!
JOSH

1-5-2015

Hello Everyone!

     Hope it's going well!

            I had just another normal week this week! New Year's Eve was great, except for our plans with investigators got canceled :/ so at night we played a board game and that was pretty much that, haha. But HAPPY 2015 TO EVERYONE! So we have 10 people in our district and guess how many are sick right now? 7. The only ones that aren't sick yet are me, my companion, and one of the Spanish missionaries. It's crazy and I really hope I don't get sick! Believe it or not, it's actually sort of cold here in Texas. Definitely not as cold as Idaho or Utah, but cold enough to wear a jacket! It rained for almost 5 days straight though. It seemed like the rain was never going to stop haha. Sometimes I like around and just say "you know, this isn't considered a foreign mission, but it's foreign enough." This last week my companion got his "trunky papers." It pretty much is a letter that says congrats you've survived for two years now here's your itinerary for when you go home haha. He says he can't believe it's already here. To me, it seems like I'm never going to see that day haha, but I'm sure I'll be saying the same thing he did when I get my trunky papers. We set a new baptism date this last week! His name is Kenneth and his date is the 31st of January. We now have three people who have baptism dates. I'm hoping it goes well with Kenneth. I'm sure it will. Hope y'all had a happy new year and remember to try not to break those resolutions! haha. Have a good week.

JOSH

Hello everyone! This week was great (The work was sort of slow, though, because everyone is busy and out of town) BUT it was a really great week.

                                      I got to Skype my family and Bryan, Kara, and Brianna on Christmas. It was seriously the best. I miss you all so much. It was good to see people I love from home. That was the best Christmas present this year. I'm also devastated that I don't get to see Into the Woods for 2 years. It's really going to kill me haha. I heard it's really good, though. So hopefully it'll be worth the wait! I've listened to the soundtrack and I love it, so I'm sure I'll love the movie a lot. On Christmas we ate at the Link Family's home. They are a really cool family. They love music and Dr. Who so I get along with them well :) On Christmas eve, we got to watch a movie with the zone! Of course we watched Frozen (I wasn't surprised at all). We also went to the Rhodus Family's home for a fun little party. All of the kids did the nativity scene and it was adorable.

                 Hopefully when the holidays end the work will pick up a lot more here. We've already had two baptisms and three on the way so I'm excited about everything that's happening. I love you all and hope you all have a happy new year!

          - Elder Needles -

Such a beautiful Christmas Day! We are so grateful for the opportunity to see and speak with Josh.