Michael’s Mission Emails
3/25/2010 8:54 PM
Dear family of Michael Adrian Horning,
We are pleased to inform you that your missionary has been safely checked in at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. We thank you for supporting your missionary and know that your family will be blessed as a result.
Your missionary’s mailing address while at the MTC is:
Michael Adrian Horning
MTC Mailbox # 136
CA-ROS 0413
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793
Please note the following items:
1. Your missionary’s service began today. Please do not arrange or request visits with your missionary, including meetings at the temple or in proximity to the MTC.
2. All missionary mail must come through the US Mail or commercial delivery services. Hand delivered items will NOT be accepted. Do not send pizzas, fast foods, ice-cream, or any items that will spoil if they are not refrigerated within 24 hours. Missionaries are not called out of class to receive packages, nor do they have access to a refrigerator.
3. Communicate with your missionary weekly through letters sent to the above address or through the email account that the missionary will set up within the first two weeks. This account is to be used by immediate family only. Telephone calls for missionaries cannot be accepted. Your missionary will correspond with you on his/her first preparation day.
4. Families and friends should not plan to visit missionaries departing to their field of labor at the airport or MTC.
Should you need to communicate with the MTC call 801-422-2602. Do not reply to this email.
Sincerely,
Provo MTC Presidency
Tue, Mar 30, 2010 at 12:55 PM
Dear Family,
Hello pepa hawnings! Hey everyone! How is everyone? So far the MTC has been pretty tiring, although its not exactly what I thought it would be. We stay in one classroom for most of our class time and I stay in a dorm like residence hall. My companions name is Elder Clifford and he is from Mesa, AZ. I actually am really enjoying being with someone 24/7, its like someone needs your presence all the time, its just nice to feel needed all the time. Although in companionship study its hard to get on the same page and study effectivelly. I feel like my companion gets kind of distracted while we are trying to study and I don’t really know what to do to make our study more effective. And I feel like there are a lot of resources and teachers only available to us here, but we don’t take advantage of them, not because we don’t want to, but no one tells us what is available! During the study time we have, studying the scriptures is good and PMG, but we could be doing so much more! And we just figured it out! I kinda feel like its all up to the missionarys to find out everything, study what they feel like they should study, and find out where placed are all on their own. I just feel like teachers should give us ideas or workshops or maybe we could role play with different teachers, which we are starting to do those things, but I would like to be given some instruction, if we actually didn’t have this guy here who has been here a couple weeks, my group would be totally lost! And one thing I am really praying for and trying to learn is humility and charity, I thought I had a pretty good handle on that at home, but I find myself getting irritated with people when I should just focus on myself and dig for the strengths in others. Which is really frustrating! I cannot help that every single time i think about someone else, I immediatly think of what they are doing wrong. So those are kinda the things I’m struggling with and trying to work on. My companion and I have haven’t done any real teaching, but we will tomorrow so we’ll see how that goes. Tell Dad thanks for the mail too! Thanks dad, I appreciated that! I’m glad to c u remembered ur reccommed. sorry we only have 30 mins on here too! Oh yea and my class includes 4 elders and also 4 sisters, and I kinda don’t like having the sisters in our class because they are so good! They are very knowledgeable and the MTC is really trying to put an emphasis on loving the investigators and trying to find their needs, and the sisters kick our butts in that. And I also live with the other 3 guys in my class and they are all hard working guys trying to be good missionaries. But I guess to sum up what this week is like is: humbling and its making me stretch. Which both things are very good, but its tough. oh yea and the mtc pres told us directly that we should not drink caffine, so mom, i guess u were right. But Just let Emily and Andrew and Sarah know I love them and how are u guys doin? Hows andrews business goin? Well I love u all, especially mom and dad, keep hangin in there and if anyone has any advice let me know!
Love you guys,
Michael (Elder Horning)
Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 11:30 AM
Hey Pepa Hawnings! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PACKAGE AND LETTERS! Thank you mom and sarah, i really appreciate those letters. And thank you very much mom for that package, everyone else was getting one and then mine showed up! so thank you mom! How is everyone? I don’t know if u guys got my email, please respond back so i know which address is right. But anyways the MTC is getting more amazing everyday, we only have a week left before we leave! I feel like I could use a couple more weeks to learn everything, but I think the field will probably the fastest way to learn anything, trial by fire kinda. I have been sick this week and especially during conference, it was pretty bad, just a cold, but I felt terrible, and I couldn’t get an extra sleep, only here and there could I catch up. But I’m getting over that and the sister missionaries in our class tried to help me out and give me medicine and they were very caring, they reminded me of the times you would take care of us mom, I have fond memories of when we were sick and the loving and knowledgable way you would take care of us! Before that though like last friday we had an incredible meeting, the spirit was very strong and there was an elder that I thought was really immature and frankly I did not like him who was in out group and in that meeting was able to get to know him and understand him. Thats something I am continually trying to work on is not judging others before getting to know people. Its frustrating because I seem to do it instinctively. But other than being sick and that meeting, and general conference, those are the biggest things that have happened. Recently we had interviews with our teachers and they said to me and my compainion that we really have a great compainionship goin, and we really do, we are getting a lot done, learning a lot and getting along well. He’s not someone that would be like my best friend, but we work very well together and we have a lot of things we can each bring to the table, and he’s sorta teaching me how to sing (he is a good singer, very musicy)! I still have to work on that tho. And I didn’t do the choir, i never knew when it met and where, we really didn’t have any details about it, but oh well. And can u guys get me tanners address or email? thank you!
Dad how is ur girlfriend? I’m not sure if sarah told me she saw her or something like that, send me ur email too, i can send more than 1 email.
Hows school goin emily? u goin to homecomeing or doin any sports or other activities? and when u getting ur license??!!
Mista Hawning!!! how is the business!?? its snowing here! how is the weather there for mowing!
Thats another reason i can’t wait to get to cali, its snowing all the time! Anyone i talk to says roseville is absolutey beautiful! and perfect weather! and everyone says dont worry about the bike til im out there.
And sorry i have been spending out of my bank account. we only have like 6 bucks each week and i needed to spend extra on medicine and soap and a notebook, once i get more than 6 bucks that should stop.
And mom how is work? people drivin u crazy? and everyone really likes that blue suit u picked out too!
The mission is fantastic and really stretchin my capacity to love, its great to see how the savior loves people. I am so glad for the preperation I had to, it seems like I am ahead in my scripture study than some, which I am very grateful to have that prep time. And we visited the temple the last time too, although it kinda stinks when ur sick, but still nice to visit that one last time.
Thank you for your prayers as well, I am thinking of u guys and praying for u, I love u all and God bless till we meet again.
Love Elder Horning
Apr 26, 2010 at 2:21 PM
Hello Family!
Just to start off, sorry if I can’t respond to everything you guys send me specifically, I’ll try to get to what you ask me but its hard becasue we only have 30 mins!
But thank you for your letter and emails Mom!! I appreciate all the correspondance from home. And thank you Dad too for your updates!
So which job did Sarah get? Congradulations though!!!! That must be exciting, looks like your hard work and patience has paid off!!!
And the area im in is actually Rocklin, I didn’t remember how it was spelled! And the area im in is actually a biking area go figure so I had to buy a bike, I just went to Wal-Mart and bought one, theres a one year warranty on it, so I think it can last. But i think there a lot of biking areas here.
And Mom that sounds tough that those women go off on tangents, thats interesting about Adam and Eve, I’m not sure what you can do about people getting off topic, thats something we are always trying to work on too!
But anyway, being a missionary is a lot of fun! So far I am enjoying it, its a blast! Getting to know Elder Archibald a little more though there are a couple things that we have some differences on. We get along very well, but when it comes to how we think we should go about doing missionary work, then we have some differences. But I’m trying to find ways I can serve him and make his interests my interests. So if David has any advice on how to get work done, while having a companion that doesn’t have the same interpretation of the rules that the other does, than let me know, Because I want to really get the work going. How can we really get the work going and find those people that need this message? And it is hard to find people, its a pretty wealthy community, and working with the members is a slower moving process, but much more effectice however, but i think we are really lacking some solid investigators. So we are just trying to think of ways we can find people, if anyone has any suggestions let me know! But one thing that has troubled me since the MTC is, I don’t feel like an over abundance of the spirit, like I don’t feel the Spirit exactly guiding our work or guiding me. I feel like the rules are not that hard to keep, so I’m doing that, and we say a lot of prayers, what am i missing? I think that it might be I just need to learn how to love the people and my companion. Because I’ll open my mouth to people, but more of I’m supposed to than I want to. So thats something that is just troubling me, why don’t I feel an outpouring of the spirit and how can I get to that point? And how can we have success? Especially when your companion might not follow all the rules? I think Elder Archibald is a really good missionary, but i know he can be even better. But I think my plan is just to try and serve and love him, and try and work with the members to find people.
But, the weather here is nice now. It was raining the past couple days, and it stinks to ride in the rain, and it is really cold when it rains! The air is very cool after it rains too. And I think the lady that is a friend of Sis. Vermillion is a sister named Sister Lewis. She introduced herself to me. But yea I guess that was a big hit!
And yea, I didn’t expect dad to get married that fast, but send me pictures!
But California is amazing and Its crazy to think I have only been out in the field 2 weeks! I hope I can figure this mission thing out soon so we can really have success.
I love you guys and pray for you multiple times a day. Thank you for supporting me, Every meal i eat I think of everyones sacrifice, so thank you! And I’m trying to do my best, but any suggestions about the situations asked about would be great! Thanks especially to Mom and Dad! Love You! And David, any suggestions from you would be incredible! Thanks you guys, and I’m not sure what the details will be for mothers days, but I’ll probably call you from the members home that we live with, but I’m not sure what time.
Love You guys!
-Elder Horning
Mon, May 3, 2010 at 2:41 PM
Hello Family! I am excited to talk to everyone next week! Regarding that, we were told to have you guys call here, to save the members from long distance charges, and we are supposed to be on 45 mins. The family is the Jenks and their number is 916-625-1639, and I think if you call at 4 o’clock your time, it will be right when we get back from church. And Dad if you could call there too, that would be good, but, is there a way to do a 3 way call with everyone? That might be better than calling both. But I think thats about it!
And thank you for your advice Mom and Dad! I really appreciated what you shared! And yeah, my bike is a piece of junk, but, Elder Archibald goes home next transfer and he said I could have his bike, so I might buy another wal mart bike and just return it when he leaves. And, you mind sending my coat too? I think the gloves are in the pockets, but that would be fantastic if you could! And all my clothes are fine so far, but for some reason I have a black spot on like 4 of my collars and I have no idea where it came from! But its is in a consistent spot with every shirt! So, how can I get that out if I already put it in the dryer and it didn’t come out?
But I think I’m learning how to adjust to companionship life better! We have Presidents interviews on tuesday so I’m really looking forward to getting some good advice then. But I have been really pondering this week how I can serve Elder Archibald and develope a love for him, any suggestions for how I can serve him? I’m going to try and get to know him better and his backround as well. But he is a good missionary, he has done a lot of work to get this area where it is, and we had a fantastic week! We had 8 new investigators!!! Which my goal is to get one new investigator a day, or 7 a week. And we had one lady and her inactive sister make it to church! So that was exciting, and we have just been blessed finding new people. And we have been trying to work with the members to develope a family mission plan, but only a couple families are really serious about it, however we have 2 ladies who are really go getta’s when it comes to missionary work, so we’re hoping to get those referrals coming, and something we are also going to try is business contacting, like leaving pass along cards at businesses and hopefully people order a DVD or BOM. And we might try sing tracting, just going up to people and singing! That should be interesting! So we are just trying to find people to teach, we have a couple good people, but getting them baptized will definatly take time!
But being a missionary is a lot of fun and I am enjoying it, I just hope I am learning what Heavenly Father wants me to!
And thank you for all your letters Mom! I really enjoy hearing from you! I will send you a written letter one of these days.
And thanks for your feedback Dad! Likewise one of these days I will try and send you a letter!
And thank you sarah as well! Thats awesome you got that job! Looks like your prayers were answered! And I will also try and write you a letter.
Emily, don’t go too fast! I have learned oweing a $100 dollar ticket is not worth getting to school or work a couple minutes earlier.
And hey Mista Hawning! Hope the lawns are doing well!
And David, I’m looking forward to that advice!
I love you all! I look forward to talking to you next week!
Love, Elder Horning
4/19/2010 2:39 PM
Hey whats up everyone!!! Thank you so much for your letters everyone! And I loved your letters too ange! Haha, it sounds like your doin great!
But I’m in california now! Leaving the MTC was kind of a bitter sweet expierience, we had to leave at 5 in the morning so we woke up at 3:45, and it was raining and dark when we left, and we didn’t know where everyone was that was in our travel group, so it was kind of stressful. And then when we got to California we immediatly met President Pendleton, his wife and the AP’s. And as soon as we got off the plane, we could just feel that california air and it was incredible! And as we drove around we saw the landscape and california is BEAUTIFUL! It is really awesome out here. After the airport we went to the mission office and got some things and filled out some paper work, then we had a wonderful lunch at President Pendleton’s house. Then we met our companions! Mine is Elder Archibald from Pennsylvania. And we get along really well, he is a really smart guy, especially when it comes to the scriptures. But yea, P day is Mondays and I’m excited to clean our apartment today, its a mess, it seems like no one throws anything away, so I can’t wait to clean it soon! It is interesting to see how much we work with the ward leaders and how important it is to develope good relationships with them. And I am serving in Rockland, its just above Roseville, and it is a pretty wealthy area, a lot of upper middle class. And its also interesting that a lot of times we are studying or planning, like if I have a free minute I feel kind of guilty if we are not tracting or teaching a lesson. And we also gave talks in sacrament meeting too! First week here, and we didn’ t have a whole lot of time to prepare so i kinda just bore my testimony for 10 mins. But we are really trying to find more people to teach, we don’t have a ton of people, but we made a good amount of appointments next week and we want to find ways to build trust with the members and work better with them, and my companion wants to try different ideas and one is singing to ppl on their doorstep, which will be really interesting, but I would totally be down with, because we don’t have a lot of success tracting, its not like we could do worse!
But anyway, how is everyone else? Thanks Dad, and Mom, and Sarah and Emily for your letters!
Dad- Hey so your getting married ey? thats pretty interesting? where is this lady from? hope everything goes well! hows work goin? thanks for your Dear Elders! I love you
Mom- sorry i forgot ur email, i knew you would be worrying, but yea, i just forgot what ur email was, but thank you for your letters and updating me! I love you
Emily- thanks for emailing me emily! and u can email me, its no big deal, plus u don’t have to spend a lot of money on stamps! But I am very proud of you and love hearing from you!
Sarah- Thanks for all your letters! thats really exciting about your job! no more cleaning up poop!? Tell David I love him too, I love u sarah, thanks for thinking of me.
Andrew- Last But surely not least! Love u bud, Its great to hear your gettin back into the swing of things!
I love you all!!!! Not too many crazy expieriences yet, some minor miracles, but right now Im really just trying to figure out how to be a successful missionary and find more people to teach!
Love you guys, talk to you next week and I’ll call you on Mothers day!!
5/3/2010 2:41 PM
Hello Family! I am excited to talk to everyone next week! Regarding that, we were told to have you guys call here, to save the members from long distance charges, and we are supposed to be on 45 mins. The family is the Jenks and their number is 916-625-1639, and I think if you call at 4 o’clock your time, it will be right when we get back from church. And Dad if you could call there too, that would be good, but, is there a way to do a 3 way call with everyone? That might be better than calling both. But I think thats about it!
And thank you for your advice Mom and Dad! I really appreciated what you shared! And yeah, my bike is a piece of junk, but, Elder Archibald goes home next transfer and he said I could have his bike, so I might buy another wal mart bike and just return it when he leaves. And, you mind sending my coat too? I think the gloves are in the pockets, but that would be fantastic if you could! And all my clothes are fine so far, but for some reason I have a black spot on like 4 of my collars and I have no idea where it came from! But its is in a consistent spot with every shirt! So, how can I get that out if I already put it in the dryer and it didn’t come out?
But I think I’m learning how to adjust to companionship life better! We have Presidents interviews on tuesday so I’m really looking forward to getting some good advice then. But I have been really pondering this week how I can serve Elder Archibald and develope a love for him, any suggestions for how I can serve him? I’m going to try and get to know him better and his backround as well. But he is a good missionary, he has done a lot of work to get this area where it is, and we had a fantastic week! We had 8 new investigators!!! Which my goal is to get one new investigator a day, or 7 a week. And we had one lady and her inactive sister make it to church! So that was exciting, and we have just been blessed finding new people. And we have been trying to work with the members to develope a family mission plan, but only a couple families are really serious about it, however we have 2 ladies who are really go getta’s when it comes to missionary work, so we’re hoping to get those referrals coming, and something we are also going to try is business contacting, like leaving pass along cards at businesses and hopefully people order a DVD or BOM. And we might try sing tracting, just going up to people and singing! That should be interesting! So we are just trying to find people to teach, we have a couple good people, but getting them baptized will definatly take time!
But being a missionary is a lot of fun and I am enjoying it, I just hope I am learning what Heavenly Father wants me to!
And thank you for all your letters Mom! I really enjoy hearing from you! I will send you a written letter one of these days.
And thanks for your feedback Dad! Likewise one of these days I will try and send you a letter!
And thank you sarah as well! Thats awesome you got that job! Looks like your prayers were answered! And I will also try and write you a letter.
Emily, don’t go too fast! I have learned oweing a $100 dollar ticket is not worth getting to school or work a couple minutes earlier.
And hey Mista Hawning! Hope the lawns are doing well!
And David, I’m looking forward to that advice!
I love you all! I look forward to talking to you next week!
Love, Elder Horning
5/10/2010 1:46 PM
Hola Family!
It was great to hear from you all yesterday! And Happy Mothers Day Mama Hawning! And I would actually love if you could send the Jenks a thank you card, they do a lot for us and I was trying to find ways to help them or just say thank you. I actually made apple crisp for the first time in forever! I made it for Sister Jenks for Mothers Day, but I didn’t remember the measurements for everything so I didn’t know how it would turn out, but i think it was ok, it wasn’t as crispy as I would have liked it to be and I think all I needed to do is put more butter in it and maybe bake it for longer, but I was wondering if you could send me that recipe and also a recipe for a peach cobler as well. That would be great if you could! And yea I think I have like half a bottle of the clinique lotion, I’ll let you know when I get short.
And guess what? Elder Archibald and I just signed up for a 5k in Roseville!!! We got approval from President and its on Memorial Day, so its our P-Day anyway, but that is so exciting! I haven’t run a 5k in forever! And the best part is we are going to do the race in our proseylting clothes! Thats going to be a ton of fun and hopefully we get some contacts or at least some good publicity. But that is exciting.
And thanks for the advice to David, and let me know if you think there is anything else I can benefit from. And let me know how that job goes sarah! And it was also great to hear from ya Emily! But take that ACT!!! And thanks for calling me Mista Hawning!! I’ll getcha during Christmas though! And i did get a chance to talk to Dad from Washington too.
Thanks for making that connection for me too Mom, about seeing the blessing of that woman paying for my grocries, I didn’t see the connection to being obedient and working hard, but I guess it could be a result of that, so thanks. But I am going to enjoy a relaxing P-Day today, my allergies have prevented me from a lot of sleep.
But I can’t think of much else that has happened, one of our investigators came to church on sunday. She is a catholic that says she will not convert… but we’ll see about that. But I think thats all! I’ll try and send pictures soon!
Love you all!
5/17/2010 1:55 PM
Hello Family!!!
I am excited to write you and I was looking forward to your updates!!
This week we were way down on lessons, a lot of people cancelled on us, and we didn’t get any new investigators either, which, we probably should have had at least one or two since we didn’t have as many lessons. And we didn’t have anyone come to church either. But, we have some goals of what we want to work on to improve on all of those, one of which is remembering to bear testimony a lot! Thats one thing I forget to do, but its the most important thing to do! I always remember Brigham Young and his expierience with someone bearing their testimony to him. We are also going to try and make it a goal to keep lessons to 45 mins, which is incredibly hard, but I’m sure more people would be willing to meet with us if they knew the lesson was only 40 to 45 mins instead of an hour and a half. And we also want to keep dinners to an hour and cold contact at least 12 people a day.
And kind of a cool story… we had an investigator we were trying to meet with and we went to his apartment and his neighbor came out and told us that he was in jail! We later found out through the Jenks that he had shot someone and they died in the hospital. And what was kinda funny was that it was on the same weekend that we called them to see if they were going to be at church and they said they were out of town… so, we talked to them like a day from when he got arrested! So that was pretty crazy!
And we had zone conference this week! They really emphasized helping our investigators receive personal revelation for themselves, specifically through reading the scriptures, praying, and attending church. And I was thinking, “man, I have a hard time receiving personal revelation for myself! I really have to work on this!” But on saturday night I was kind of feeling overwhelmed with things and just asked what I needed to do. And I think throughout the night Saturday and on Sunday I got answers to the questions I was asking, so that was cool. And one of the insights I had was when I was reading Elder Bednars talk and he said to testify to our children often and I really want to make a habit of expressing my testimony to my companion specifically at least once a day. Another thing that I thought about was I think I can liken a companionship to raising children as well as a marriage. I know that sounds weird but I thought about how I will I teach my children effectively when I’m older? Like how can I teach them depending on which kind of personality they have. For example my companion in the MTC had a high amount of motivation, but wasn’t extemely knowledgeable about the church or the gospel, but my companion now is Very knowledgeable, but maybe doesn’t have a high amount of motivation. So.. I was looking at my notes about a book I read of Moms about Leadership and I found an amazing section where it talks about what to do with those different types of people! And i thought it was incredible! So I think what I need to do is Support, be very praiseworthy. And I thought that was cool because this really gives me an opportunity to try those different leadership styles for different personalites, and I can deffinatly use that skill when raising kids.
But anyway, that was really long, but I just thought that was cool. Anyway, thank you so much for the stuff you are going to send Mom! My nose is super stuffed all the time so sleeping is kind of a pain if you have to breath thru your mouth the whole time, so that will be great! But I think thats all I will need, I definatly have enough money for anything else I will need, I’m not eating as much as I thought I would eat, so I have a lot of leftover money. And yes I did get the coat and it is incredible! Its great.
But Sarah I don’t remember singing that song? when was that? and thank you for your letters! I always look forward to waht you guys write.
And something cool we’re also going to try is singing a poor wayfaring man of grief as a tracting song, we might even sing it in sacrament meeting! I am really getting in to this whole singing thing out here! I think with some practice I could be pretty decent! But I am feeling much more comfortable singing in front of people. I wish you guys could hear us!
Oh and mom I was wondering, so if I look a lot like the Burns family, what did those guys hairlines look like? Did they go bald? Because this lady cutting my hair said Rogain actually worked, but you have to apply it like everyday of your life. So, if you could research that for me that would be awesome. Wouldn’t that be funny if I came back with more hair than when I left!? Ha!
But thank you for the updates Mom! I appreciate the verses you share and your insights and also what everyone else is doing!
And thank you Dad for your messages! I hope that Zach has a fantastic mission!
And thank you sarah for sending me your emails! I love hearing from you! Hope your job and school goes well!
And as for everyone else, I’ll give you a chance to repent and write next week!
Love you all!
Thank you for all your prayers and support and I look forward to talking to you next week and sharing all the miracles that will happen!
God be with you til we meet again!
5/24/2010 2:54 PM
Greetings Family! Thank you for your letters!!! I love reading them and look forward to reading them. I guess I have to be careful what I say if all these other people are getting my emails! Yikes! Ha, im just kidding. But Dad yea i don’t I got your email about service, so if you could send that again that would be great!
But this week has been a very humbling one. I thought I was really prepared before I left, and that made me pretty cocky. I thought that I am out here to teach others, including other missionaries, but I am starting to learn that there is a TON I need to learn from other missionaries. I would be lying if I said that I have looked forward to having a leadership position, and I think it all circles back to charity and humility, which will be a theme throughout my whole mission. People are always telling me that I’m a great missionary, and I really let that get to my head, I am realizing that I must first be a servant and learn from those that have more experience than me. And its interesting why I want to be a good missionary, is it because I am motivated by love, or that I love God, or is it because I want to look better than my peers and receive recognition for what I do? The story of my life but I am trying to work on that.
This week we had stake conference actually and the stake presidency was being reorganized so there was a 70 there, not sure what his name was though! But it was great, I felt like I was literally hearing the voice of the Lord speak to me.
But other random interesting things that have happened this week before I forget…
We got 2 free violins and guitars from this older gentleman we did service for, so that was pretty cool. I’ll probably ship those home, Elder Archibald will keep one of each and so will I. That was really surprising and random though! How often do you get a guitar and violin for free!! We also picked up a free couch from some random peoples house. They left it outside and we knocked on their door and asked if we could have it and they said yes! And what is amazing is that it is small enough to fit our small living space, so its just the right size! And something totally random and hilarious that happened on saturday night was when we were tracting around all day, like all day, it was a long day. But anyway, we were just stopping by peoples homes we were trying to meet with and the last house we tried was near our place, and when we knocked on the door we could hear there was a party going on, so we were kind of joking around like “oh yea, lets just pretend we’re here for the party.” Then the dude answers the door and is like, “You guys here for the party? You wanna come in?” And were just like, “Sure, yeah! Totally!” So we go in and apparently its this guys 50th birthday party and he is kinda tipsy and he was like introducing us to all his friends and giving us cake and soda, it was great.. and the best part was like neither of us had met him before! It was helarious, and I guess he is Mexican, so there were a lot of other Mexican people there and they had the salsa music or whatever playing there too. But we actually met 2 less active members there who were from east sacramento that said they were just talking like a week ago about how they wanted to come back to church! The guy seemed pretty excited to go back and wanted to call us after he had gone, and I guess he hadn’t been there in 10 years! So that was way cool.
But I think those are about the highlights, transfers are today, but me and Elder Archibald are staying here, but 6 more weeks with him and he leaves for home!
Love you family! I will send some letters and pictures home soon!
Love, Elder Horning
6/7/2010 2:59 PM
Hello Pepa Hawnings!!!
Sorry I didn’t write last week! It was memorial day and the library was closed, and we also had to do our 5k!!! It was a TON of fun. There weren’t as many people there as we expected, but there were a lot of members there. But we didn’t run in suits but we did have our white shirts and ties on! There is a guy about to go on a mission that came and took our pictures! Some are very funny! So whenever I can print those out I will send you some! But it was a lot of fun, We didn’t go too terribly fast, so I was able to give out like 5 pass along cards while we were running! But we got first and second for our age group, the results are on: http://www.rosevillememorialdayruns.com/2010RMDRESULTSAD.HTML
But I don’t know if we made it in the paper though. And it wasn’t as hard to run in a shirt and tie as I thought it would be. And in response to Sarahs question about mile times, I mean its all realative. I mean like for someone who runs all the time, 8 min miles I think are a slow jogging pace. If you ran a marathon, 7 min miles would be great! But to run a one mile race then yes, 5 min is great too! So its all about the distance.
And THANK YOU so much for the package too!!! I really appreciated the food and I already used the nasal spray. And thank you so much for your letter Emily! I am in the process of sending you a letter! But whats wrong with the car too? And mom I think your talking about the hood, not the trunk. The hood does not close, something is broken, but its been that way for almost a year and nothing has happened so… whatever you think. But thats funny the battery died, I mean thats funny it happened right after I left, maybe was it because it wasn’t being driven?
But these last couple of weeks have been great because we have be teaching a lot, but we can’t seem to get anyone to sacrament meeting, and I think that it has something to do with our faith because it is so hard to see them making changes in their life to where they are a full blown member of the church and fully active. I definatly need to have more faith in the Lord that He can make anything possible and I should not doubt the power of the Holy Ghost. And I am really realizing what a great Mom we have too! I know your gonna say “I told ya so” Mom, but I think its great that you instilled the importance of being exactly obedient to the rules becasue we bind the Lord when we do what He says, and also how you have always taught us to be respectful and use manners, and also the importance of being organized and clean. So thank you! And oh yeah, the Jenks got your letter and they loved it! Thank You!
But I am really trying to work on my patience too. This whole companion thing is super tough! And its super tough not to judge too! I think its tougher because I’m such an obedience freak and I know that I just cannot judge others. But I am really learning how to be patient and love others for who they are, and who they aren’t. And also to have some miracles happen witrh the people we are working with, and have faith in the Lord.
And its starting to get hotter here! So thats gonna be really fun… maybe.
But I love you guys! Thank you so much for your letters! Keep ‘em coming!
Love Elder Horning
6/14/2010 1:53 PM
Hello Family!
Thank you for the updates Mom! I got your letter! I’m glad emily liked the car, and I’m really glad you fixed the brake pads, they really needed it. And thanks for your emails too Dad! Sorry I can’t respond to them indivually, I will try and write you a letter here soon!
But not a whole lot new is going on here, we actually went golfing today with our ward mission leader, and that was the first time I went golfing, so it was an interesting experience! Other than that my companion is 3 weeks away from heading home, and it has been a great learning experience with him, however, its going to be exciting to see who my next my companion is! We had Zone Conference this week too and we were told to invite our Less Actives and Investigators and one of our investigators came! Her e is Gail, she is an older lady, catholic, and shes a hoot, she is a lot of fun. So that was cool, she got to meet President Pendleton, so that was great! But we still have a lot of work to do with her though, but I have high hopes for her. And at church we actually had a potential investigator come to church! She missed sacrament meeting, but we had no idea she was coming, we didn’t even recognize her at first, we just talked to her twice, so that was surprising and an answer to prayer! And we were also able to take a family that we were referred to on a chapel tour, and it was fantastic, they didn’t make it to church, but they are golden, and its a whole family too, so very cool that we got a whole family.
Oh and by the way, when is everyones birthday?
Elder Archibald and I are actually singing next week in sacrament meeting! We are singing Brightly Beams Our Fathers Mercy, and I guess I am singing the melody and Elder Archibald is going to throw in some sick harmony in there! The one thing I am worried about is geting up in front of those people and having confidence in my voice, so I’ll let you know how that goes!
But sounds like things are pretty hectic for you Mom! But sounds like girls camp will be fun! And Emily I am very proud of you that you are taking care of things at home too, good job. I will challeng you to clean that car every week and pay attention to the oil, I think the enviorment in my car was so much nicer when it was clean, the Spirit could really dwell there.
And I think I forgot to mention that I got the letter from Sister Bills and her seminary class! So please thank her for that if you could, and also thank her seminary class, I really appreciated their letter!
And also do you think I could get Chad and Tanners emails too?
ANd I guess one kinda funny story, we are trying to get a hold of one of our investigators, Howard King, who has a bit of a drinking problem, but we stopped over at his house and I think he was drunk, but he was funny, he was talking to us and told us he needed some space, needed to take his time but he’s like, “but I know Joseph Smith is my Savior” so that was kinda funny, and it was funny he was like chastising my companion too, and that was funny because I was thinking, man, thats exactly what I wanted to tell him! So that was funny.
But thats about it! And Mom I don’t think I’m here to plant seeds, the field is WHITE already to harvest! So I respectfully agree with some things you said, but I know that we can get some of these people, but its up to us to do all we can, and I don’t think we are doing all we can.
But I love you guys! I keep praying for you and thank you for your prayers!
God Bless!
Elder Horning
6/21/2010 1:38 PM
Hello Family!
It is great to talk to you guys again and get your emails!
And Happy Fathers Day Papa Hawning! Yea I didn’t know Grandma’s address, sorry, but I hope Fathers Day was fantastic for you! And I will try and direct my comments to you too!!
And congratulations on the job Sarah!!! What is the VA again? Like what does it stand for? And how much do they have you working there?
And Ang quit turd scrape!!!! What is he going to do now? Just stay with the lawns? And its funny, Elder Archibald reminds me a lot of you ang and I have learned a lot of patience from him! And a lot of other things too!
And yes sounds like girls camp will be fun Mom! And why are there 2 sets of missionaries? Thats a lot, but I guess Canton does that too, maybe its an Ohio thing.
And thanks for the picture Dad! Susan kinda reminds me of a member out here. And speaking of pictures, how does my plaque look? Does someone mind taking a picture of that for me?
And where Sister Bills is at, Citrus Heights is like 20 min away from me! Maybe more, but I always hear about it. And tell her thanks for the letter! I will try and send her a letter today.
But anyway… So huge milestone in my life… Elder Archibald and I sang a duet in sacrament meeting!!! I always remember telling everyone I hated singing growing up and now I really like it and think I’m halfway decent. But that was a lot of fun, and what made it very memorable was a less active family that we are teaching was there, and they clapped for us when we were done! And i think that was definatly the highlight for the members. But Brother Jenks said he thought we were going to be a little off key, but he said he was surprised and we sounded very good! And the song was Brightly Beams our Fathers mercy. But the 2nd verse I soloed it, Elder Archibald hummed though, but it was cool.
But this week has been chalk full of miracles. We had a goal of 18 lessons this week and by the middle of the week it didn’t look very good that we were going to get close to that, and people were cancelling on us too. But we were able to get a lot of “surprise” lessons with people we are not regularly meeting with. A lot of people it was the first time we talked to them but they let us talk to them for a while. And we ended up getting 17 lessons so just one short of our goal, so that was great. And we picked up 4 new investigators this week too, so that was exciting. And one cool thing that happened, so we knocked on the door of a potentail lady we are trying to meet with, Jennifer, but no one answered the door, but we decided to knock on her neighbors doors, and normally we don’t do that, especially at 2 in the afternoon, but we did, only talked to one person but then when we came back to Jennifers house she was outside! And we were able to talk to her and she was thinking about not meeting with us, but I think we resolved some of her concerns. But I thought that was really cool. And 2 of our investigators came to church! Gail and Mickey. Gail came just to hear us sing, but I guess she was still there, but Mickey actually came by herself and we didn’t even call her and remind her about it! So hopefully we can meet with her this week, she is golden. And interviews with President this week!!! That should be good. But I think that is about it this week, I love you guys and pray for you everyday! Keep holdin those FHE’s!
Love you guys,
Elder Horning
6/28/2010 2:04 PM
Hello Family!!!
Thank You for all of your letters! That sounds like the hard knock life for ya sarah, but looks like you’ll be making some big bucks! So where is the VA? Is it in cleveland? But who did coleen get married to? Wasn’t she dating one guy for a while?
And you’ve got a great perspective on that visiting teaching situation too, its hard to make people change and motivate people, thats what missionary work is all about, but something that we as companions are trying to do is step in their shoes, try finding out what they are thinking. But, we’re still trying to perfect it, and I’m sure you’ve done everything you can, even after you’ve done that, they still don’t change, but it is all up to them and the Lord. And I got a letter from Sis Marsh too! Tell her thank you, I’m going to try and send her a written letter today.
And I saw those picture too Dad! Does Susan have some older children? Nice Marraige certificate, that things huge! And I liked the pictures of grandma too! She looked very nice! But yea I went out with Elder Farmer just once, but he’s a good missionary, but man they must have a HUGE area now, my goodness, North Canton AND Canton, Holy cow. And thanks for spreadin the word to! I would love to get some letters from people in the Ward!
But anyway, this week was terrible for lessons! We only had 10!! And normally we are closer to 20 , so that was just really dissapointing, but I guess it was bound to happen, every once and a while you have an off week. Gradually we have lost a couple of people and a lot of people cancelled appointments this week, but we got a couple of new people to teach as a result and have a lot of appointments set up already. And its Elder Archibalds last week!!! So I suspect to be busy this week. But I will probably stay here though, I’ll still be with the Jenks, and they made us a huge breakfast the other saturday, it was delicious! But I’ll still be here. But I’m excited to get a new companion! Elder Archibald and I get along great, we have a good time, but it will be cool to see how this next elder is! And at church we had one lady come, Mickey, she didn’t come for sacrament meeting, but she brought her 2 grandkids to primary and stayed for the whole 2 hours, so that was good, but it is still hard to get an appointment with her! And we just started teaching this black guy named Dennis, hes funny, he’s very enthusastic and hungry for “the Word.” so that was exciting. And its getting super hot here too, we are sweating pretty bad if we have to get to an appointment fast! And I also keep getting flat tires too, its such a pain, I keep running over these things called goat heads that keep puncturing small holes im my tires! And also, Do you think you could send me some clinique lotion too, without the pump? That would be great if you could, if you can’t let me know, I’m almost out so will have to get some soon. But other than that the work is goin great! Really lookin forward to this next week!
Love you all VERY MUCH!
-Elder Horning
7/6/2010 3:25 PM
Hello Family!
Transfers were yesterday and Elder Archibald had a lot to pack so we couldn’t email yesterday.
But yea, I have a new companion! I haven’t met him yet, his name is Elder Miller, he was a Zone Leader in Gridley and a lot of people have said he is a great missionary, so I’m really excited to meet him today. And a sister that was in my MTC district is in my district here! So that was exciting too. But Elder Archibald left, I did learn a ton from him, he is super smart, he got a 34 on his ACT, but he will be missed.
But thanks for the lotion mom! I guess I have to be careful what I say in these Emails if everyone reads them huh!? But thanks for sending that quickly, I definatly will need it soon. And as far as my clothes, they’re doin all right, when I washed my black slacks, the hem came undone, and my white shirts are starting to get yellow sweat marks on the collars, so thats gross, is there anything I can do to wash that out? And thats funny that Zone conference is this week for the Cleveland Mission because we have Zone conference on Friday! Thats pretty nuts!
And thanks for your letter Sarah! And thats funny your teaching the Law of Chastitiy becuase thats the Lesson we had in Sunday School when we taught, that was fun! Good Luck!
And thank you Mom as always for your weekly update of everyone! I’m sending Sister Marsh and Flory a letter, so tell them they’ll get them soon.
And thanks Dad for your letter. I think the mission average for Lessons is 15, at least thats what they always want us to hit, but we seem to get 17 or 18 consistently, so 10 was kind of dissapointing, but we did have 20 this week! (Barely)
And I guess that brings me into the portion of my letter that I talk about the work. Oh yeah, and if you guys want me to include anything in my letters let me know! Anyway, something really exciting that happened on Monday, Mickey Smith, who has been coming to church regulary, said she wanted to be baptized! And she said she wants her grandson, Jacob, to get baptized too! So that was way cool, I think its going to be the first baptisam in the ward in a year. But she is amazing, she is like a sponge, she wants to keep learning. Unfortunatley she won’t be at church for the next month because she is starting work again, she is an RN so has to work a lot of weekends, so thats the only bummer. Other than her, we gave the Byrd family a BOM and they strated to read it, and had some questions about it, but I think we resolved their concern about it, they haven’t made it out to church yet, but I think its just a matter of time. They are going through a lot though, a lot of deaths in the family, and in california state employees are making minimum wage now! And Steve Byrd is a state worker, so money is going to be way tight. And we just started meeting with a lady that met with us in the past, Kathy Boone, he won’t be in town for 2 weeks, but we saw her last week and she said she has been thinking a lot about what we share with her and wants to make it out to church sometime!
So we are really ready to do some harvesting here.
And I guess I have a story for ya… So yesterday Elder Archibald left, so I didn’t have a compainion in the evening, but we had 4 lessons planned!!! So I got 2 young men to sorta be my companions for the night and the first appointment we go to, the lady isn’t there, and then we went to a potiential investigators home that lived close by, and we have never got in her house before, but we just stopped by and let us in! So we came in, and then her husband just got home! So I was kinda worried what he would say but he came and sat down and let us share a message with them! And I think he has some real mental problems, skitsifrenia, or however you spell that. And so during the lesson I was thinking that giving him a Priesthood Blessing, and the young man turns to me and hes like, give him a blessing, and I’m like “right now!?” So we did! That was kinda crazy, I had not idea what to say but I layed my hands on his head, after I read the white bible quick and gave him a blessing. And then we went to teach Raul, its the first time we met with him, and he doesn’t speak a lot of english so we had a member who could speak spanish come over with us. So that was nuts! I was the only missionary, trying to teach a guy in Spanish!!! It was pretty funny, but we’ll hand him off to the spanish elders though. But my time is pretty much up!
Love you guys! Thank you for all your letters!
Elder Horning
7/12/2010 2:00 PM
Hey Family!
Thank you for your letters! I can’t belive Emily is going to be 17!!! Thats interesting to hear! Emily is getting so old! But I might be late on the birthday present, I’ve got an idea of what I want to do, but it might take a couple weeks and also careful planning.
But I don’t think I got the lotion yet too! I wonder where it could have gone too, I’ll ask the Jenks if they grabed it. But thanks for sending it! I don’t know if you can track down where it went too, but I’ll ask the Jenks and the mission office too.
This week was pretty excitng, we taught the Byrd family and committed them to baptism! And they accepted!! August 14th! They haven’t been to church yet, but I think that will change shortly. And Mickey we will see today and see about setting a date with her. And Elder Miller is my new companion! He’s great, he is a really self less guy, I’m way excited to continue to work with him and love him.
Since he doesn’t know the area, I kind of feel like I have to do everything, which is kinda stressing me out, I am too up tight about everything and just need to chillax. So I’m trying to take the approach of, “Don’t sweat the small stuff, and its all small stuff.” But I need to get more organized for sure in order to accomplish that, there is a LOT of stuff to do since we have a lot of people we are meeting with. So I’m just trying to figure out how to get things done, without rushing around and worrying about things constantly.
And there has been a huge change in our Zone Conferences, they were once a month, now they are going to make them quarterly! I guess in compensation, they want the mission presidency to go out with us more. So that was pretty big news.
And something really funny is that I really miss Elder Archibald, I find myself doing the things that he did that I got annoyed at! So that is really funny, its like I morphed into him because I was with him so long! But I’m working on just like getting used to how Elder Miller teaches and what he does.
And I’m really trying to stay focused and realize that this is what I’ve wanted to do my whole life! Sometimes I think, man, 2 years is a super long time!
But I think thats about it, I’m almost out of time, and sorry if I don’t comment about the things you guys right, I enjoy reading it, but its hard to keep you guys updated on me and comment on what you wrote too, so sorry! But I love hearing from you Mom, Dad and Sarah! I just want you to know your letters are not in vain!
And I would really enjoy knowing when everyones birthday is too, so thanks Mom!
I Love you All!!!
-Love Elder Horning
Monday, July 19, 2010, 2:31 PM
Hello Family!
And happy birthday Emily and David! I’ll try and send you something! It might be just a picture, but it will be a great one!
And happy birthday Emily and David! I’ll try and send you something! It might be just a picture, but it will be a great one!
And thank you Emily and Mom for your letters! I am almost done with them, but might need to send them next week.
Thats a funny story about David and the cake! I didn’t know that was such a hallowed tradition!
And ange I hear you finally have that plow eh? Its about time! That should be loads of fun! And you can make tons of money!
I’m glad Sister Marsh liked the letter, I didn’t get everything I wanted in it, but it was taking me forever so I sent her what I had.
And I hear Lebron went to Miami! Thats a bummer!
But the work is going great! Sort of, we didn’t meet with the Byrds this week, but they did have dinner with a family in the ward though. And we are starting to teach Mickey’s grandson Jacob so they can get baptized together. But I think Mickey still has a long way to go! I don’t think she knows that in order to get baptized she has to quit coffee! So… that will be interesting, Elder Miller said it the best, she signed the contract before reading it! But I don’t think anything will be a problem, but it might take longer than we thought. And I don’t know if I wrote about Mary Sanchez last week, but she is the mother of a Semi Active family, the Armstrongs, and she is absolutely golden! She is just so ready to learn and just soak up everything that we teach her. She’s gone for a week, but as soon as she comes back she wants us to come over everyday! Reason being is because she lives in Texas and her husband is against any religion, so its a small window to teach her, but she is amazing.
Those are pretty much the heavy hitters, other than them, we’re just trying to find more people. Elder Miller said this is one of the biggest teaching pools he has had. Ridding our bikes around and talking to people who are outside seems like the most effective way to find people. And we went tracting on saturday and it was super hot and we actually ran into a Less active family that recently moved in! So we are going to get their records and we have an appt with them next week! So that was really random, and during that same time we knocked on a house that was kinda of secluded and actually had an orange tree, so we ate one of their oranges! I don’t think it was fully ripe though! And it has been getting super hot lately too! And I hate saying this but I hate wearing long sleeves! I proly should have gotten more short sleeves! When you go outside it just feels like you stepped into an oven! But at least their is not a lot of humidity, so its really not too bad.
I love this ward too, it feels just like our home ward. One of our ward missionaries reminds me exactly of Dad! I hear though their is a big difference between the north and south, the north I guess is more like Rootstown in that a lot of towns are out in the boonies, so I guess that will feel just like home too! So that will be fun to go up there. I could even be in citrus heights next, thats where sis bills mom is! And thank her for her letter too! And I am trying to get in the habit of writing the bills and the frosts more regularly.
But I think thats about it!
Love and miss all you guys!
Elder Horning
On 7/19/2010 1:56 PM, Michael Adrian Horning wrote:
yup that doubles as the mission office now!
Love EH
On Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 2:20 AM, John Horning wrote:
Michael,
Is this your address?
8583 Watt Av
Antelope, CA 95843-9117
Michael,
Is this your address?
8583 Watt Av
Antelope, CA 95843-9117
Looks like that’s the address of the church.
Dad
7/26/2010 2:16 PM
First I just wanted to say that I was dying when I read Andrews comments! Hey Mista Hawning! I was laughing so hard! I still laugh about it and I think I will write it on a notecard and put it on my corkboard! That made me smile Ange! Thanks for the laugh! And its so true!
And I think the mission office said that they did have the package… but I still didn’t get it, I’m going to call them today. And no I didn’t get transferred, I won’t be for a couple more months, Elder Miller was transferred and came down here to Rocklin. And that famiyl reunion sounds like a whole lotta fun reading Sarahs email! I thought David met the fam earlier tho, like around Halloween. And extra shirts would be amazing! Thank you! Do you know my size? The ones we got at Khols were kinda big on me, but I guess I like the tighter fit of things. I think my neck is like 15 or 16.
But I guess first things first, Mickey is doing amazing still, she is so excited to get her hands on information about the church! Its really cool to see her just really want to learn as much as she can. And she wants to make it to the Temple to do baptisms for the dead as soon as she can! And what would be really cool is if she recieved her endowment while I was still out here! I would totally have to come back down here. We were going to go to DI with the Byrds to get church clothes, but I think they had a family emergency and had to cancel, so that was a bummer since they couldn’t make it to church, but they’ll make it there eventually. And we actually had a nonmember perform a musical number in sacrament meeting too, I think thats the first time I’ve seen that. He is friends with one of the young men in the ward and he played the violin and it was incredible! I guess he cried after he finished, he really felt the spirit. So hopefully we’ll start teaching him next week.
As far Personal developement goes… Its really interesting being with Elder Miller now, he is much more outgoing than Elder Archibald, and its kind of hard to get used to. He jokes around a lot too. And I struggle to really have a good time with him, like reviewing my friends, I really enjoy talking to people older than I am and I’m not really good friends with people my own age, and I was wondering why that is? And listening to all the people he has gotten close to on the mission makes me want to develope those same good friendships, but I don’t know how! I’ve never been a good long lasting friend, so I’m just trying to figure out how to get along with someone who is more outgoing than I am!
And we started to teach the guy we taught in Spanish again, this time we watched, “The Restoration” in spanish.
I am really going to miss this ward when I get transferred though, I really love the people in this ward, it feels just like home.
But I think thats about it!
I Love you all!!!!
Elder Horning
