15th Week Out, 9th week in Arkansas Greenwood. I have a set date to leave for Brazil!

Dear family and friends;  (I lost all my pictures this week... very sad)

Not much to report this week.  I had an interview with my Mission President where I found out that I leave for Brazil on June 16th!

This week I was able to preform a lot of service!  We moved a member in our ward, rototilled a garden for a less active,  lifted a 500 lb. metal fan, and much more.  Out here I seem to do a lot of work with the less actives.  We have 600 people on the records, but less than 100 are active.  I visit less actives ever day and do all I can to invite them with love to come back to church.

Man we had to drive 40 miles the other day just for a dinner!  Me and my companion did not have a dinner Saturday night and decided to go out and eat at a mexican restaurant. When we asked for the check, someone had payed for our dinner!

This week it flooded here pretty bad!  It rained and rained and rained and there was flood warnings all day!  A town in my area even had a "threat to life flood" as the whole town was under water!  CRAZY!  I love you all!  Thanks for all of your love and support!

Impressions of Greenwood Arkansas

1. EVERYONE has tornado shelters!
2. Many people live in trailers (some are pretty nice, but most are scary!)
3. I no longer need a bike with 50 square miles to cover.
4. I saw a power pole EXPLODE!  Need I say more?

Worst flooding here in years!  Picture taken May 25th, 2015.  17 inches of rain this month and it is not stopping.

Flash flood warnings.  Tornado Warnings -- Sometimes we have to sit in the tub for safety when we get a tornado warning!

14th Week Out, 8th week in Arkansas Greenwood.

Dear family and friends;

Did you all get the chance to watch the David A Bednar broadcast?  We had a big bonfire out here when we watched it and when I say big that is an understatement!  This member literally plowed down like 20 trees, threw them in a BIG pile, and lit it on fire.  Now THAT was our bonfire!  You couldn't be within 30 feet of this thing and not be burning up! 

We received News from our Mission President that the mission I am serving in, the Oklahoma Tulsa Mission after July will cease to exist and become the Arkansas Bentonville Mission.  They are moving the mission home from Tulsa Oklahoma to Bentonville Arkansas! 

I was able to pick up my first "thrift shop" suit this week but as Elder Brown puts it..., "You broke the thrift limit because I spent over $20 and spent $25." 

I had the opportunity to travel an hour from "Greenwood" to "Magazine" which is a small town that we cover.  Magazine has a population of only 900 people!  These people have to drive an hour to Greenwood for church because it is the closet building around.  This makes it hard for us to get investigators to church because it's an hour long drive!  I never realized how lucky I was to have a church building so close until now.  

While in magazine I worked hard on contacting a less active that just moved in.  When we first showed up at his door we were greeted by his mom (not a member, also she did not want to be taught) who said he was not home but would be real soon.  In our attempt to catch him, we tracted every apartment around him but he never showed up.  We left to visit a part member family and on our way out of Magazine, we stopped by his house one last time and we ended up catching him! Turns out that he was baptized recently by Mitt Romney's son!  It was a blessing to be able to catch him and invite him back to church. 

In conclusion, I would like to share with you the story of Sister Vea.  Sister Vea was a sister missionary who served in the same mission and EXACT area (greenwood) that I am serving in.  She was serving here last summer (2014) and she was in a terrible car accident that ended up taking her life.  Sister Vea was a wonderful missionary and worked VERY hard!  Many people in my area know about Sister Vea and there is a special spirit that comes with serving in her area.  I am working with some of the same investigators and members that she worked with.  Before the accident she had written out her testimony which she put in a Book of Mormons.  Her companion found this testimony after she passed away and gave it to our mission president.  President Shumway gave me this very testimony the first day I arrived in this mission and told me her story.  When I was in Fayetteville Arkansas, I took Sister Veas testimony and I put it in every book of Mormon I gave away!  I gave away 20 book of Mormons with her name... but now I serve in the corresponding mission which she did!  I know she is still here working the areas and the hearts of the investigators which I work with today that she did!  I love you brothers and sisters and I appreciate all of your love and support!

Impressions of Greenwood Arkansas

1. Out here they don't have sidewalks or streetlights so neighborhoods are really DARK at night.
2. Dinner means lunch and supper means dinner? YUP
3. I apparently have a "western accent" so many people out here have STRONG southern accents! This is redneck nation! you will hear language like "bushwhacker, right quick, fixed to, y'all, etc."

My NEW ADRESS:

1120 Farley Circle. Apt. C
Greenwood, AR 72936

email: brennen.horton@myldsmail.net

Fire Arkansas style!

Correction... POP of 916

Web sites of interest:

Mission President's wife's blog:

http://oklahomashumways.blogspot.com/ 

Brennen's first mission companion in MTC:

https://www.facebook.com/ElderKessel

A Blog about the Fortaleza East Mission

http://preparetoserve.com/brazil-fortaleza-east-mission/

13th Week Out - 7th week in Arkansas Transferred to Greenwood. (Visa coming... will travel to Brazil next transfer)

Dear Family and friends:

This week I was transferred to Greenwood Arkansas. I Saw all of my friends and investigators in Fayetteville for the last time and it was hard to say goodbye to a lot of them but I said my goodbyes then hopped on a couple hour buss ride for Greenwood.  When I first got there it was so hot!  I started sweating just from standing there. Greenwood has a population of about 8,000 people (aka the middle of no where) with smaller towns all around that have populations of  a couple hundred to a thousand people that I also cover.  There's one church building in Greenwood so all of the surrounding towns have to drive sometimes an hour to go to church. I t usually takes us 45 minutes to an hour also to travel out to these little towns just to visit a few people and the roads out here are often dirt roads which are often times washed out or muddy.

I met my new companion Elder Meyer and we have already become bros.  I love him and he is a great missionary! He has been out for 20 months and it turns out that we have the SAME birthday which is coming up real soon!

So No more mansion... well it was fun while it lasted.  I went to our new apartment a little skeptical at first coming from a mansion but it turns out we have a pretty nice apartment that me and my companion have to ourselves (I will attach pictures.)

We have had tornado and flood warnings all of this week!  Our zone leaders have told us to keep our cell phone on loud every night of this week just in case anything were to touch down... It was crazy!  During sacrament, everyone's phones started going off because of a tornado warning and then during the end of sacrament meeting tornado sirens started going off!  After the closing prayer the bishop got up and asked everyone to stay in the chapel for 15 minutes to be safe.  One lady even got up and screamed "Sweet mercy my dogs outside!" and ran out.  Then a couple other people booked it for their cars!  My companion and I went with the bishop to the windows to get a look outside and it was going CRAZY with rain flying in literally every direction... almost sideward!  There was super loud thunder and lightening with big flashes every other second!  Thank goodness that a tornado never touched down but it could have!  Man it was INTENSE!

Soooo the rest of that day we had flood warnings because like I said, a lot of the roads are dirt and they will get washed out and many did!  Get this..., we have had 11 inches of rain just this week!  There was a field I drive by every day that turned into a lake no joke!

I was able to Skype and talk to my family on Mothers Day.   It was a treat to be able to see them again.  It felt like I just saw them yesterday, which is weird because as of today I have been out for 3 months, 21 left to go!  That night we had to drive home and a major storm had hit.  We were worried we were going to get washed out on a road  because if there is 1 to 2 inches of water on the road you can literally be washed off the road.  My companion and I  were at a members home out in one of those "little towns" I talked about, so we had a 30 minute ride home which we had to drive at like 20 mph, so it took us a little bit over an hour to get home that night and the rain was coming down so fast and so hard that we could not see more than 10 feet in front of us!  But I have really enjoyed this crazy weather out here it's unlike anything I have ever experienced. I know that Heavenly Father is watching over me and protecting me!

I love you all and thanks for all your love and support!

Impressions of Greenwood Arkansas:

• Living in a missionary apartment is not as nice as living in a mansion.
• The church building out here does not have pews, just chairs.
• It has rained every day since I have been here. (our phone blows up with flash flood warning for days!)
•  It rains so hard here sometimes that even with windshield wipers on full blast, you wont be able to see out your front window.

My ADRESS for mail:

1120 Farley Circle. Apt. C
Greenwood, AR 72936

email: brennen.horton@myldsmail.net

Most roads are dirt and get washed out.  We have to drive like 20 mph or a warning system goes off in our car.  If we have too many warnings, it reports back to the mission office and we can get our car taken away.  

My first contact from a member in AR! A very appreciated text message!

Her message:

I thought you would appreciate a picture of your wonderful son and his good companion Elder Reed.  We have had missionaries staying in our home or about six years and this companionship has been one of the best.   Elder Horton has worked hard while waiting for his visa.   He along with his companion have made a positive difference for both members and investigators.  

I responded:

Wow!  Thank you so much!  It's been such a blessing to know he is with a family as wonderful as yours.  You are too kind to contact me and make me feel so good tonight!  We love that boy!  Brennen brings us so much joy!  We are so excited his Visa is coming and he will have the opportunity to serve in the mission he was called to!  We love that he had the opportunity to serve the people of Arkansas.  Thank you again for this wonderful treat tonight!  I think that Brennen's mission so far has been the perfect dream!  He is so happy!

She responded:

We love them.  He is happy and it shows.  He loves his family and by the way he is serving the Lord, it shows how he loves the Lord.   He is representing his family and the Lord well.

She took and sent these wonderful pictures of Elder Horton!

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12th Week out, 6th Week in Fayetteville, AR - EXCITING NEWS!!! MY VISA IS COMING! I COULD BE IN BRAZIL IN 2 TO 3 WEEKS!!!

Hello All!

This Week has been Crazy!  

So first off I did get transfer calls this last Saturday night and I found out I was being transferred to Greenwood Arkansas!  At first when I found out I was being transferred I was so confused because I had a lot going for me here in Fayetteville!  That night I went and checked my visa status and found out that I have 4 out of 4 dots!  This means my visa is being mailed to me and I will probably be leaving for Brazil here in the next 2 weeks!  Looks like I should start practicing Portuguese more often... jk!  I study every day!  It makes sense that I am being transferred because Elder Reed leaves in 6 weeks and is his last transfer!  If I were to leave half way through then he would only have half a transfer to help someone come in and take over when he leaves and that would be super stressful because we have a double area assignment!  

Anyways, I will be leaving Fayetteville this Thursday!  I have been saying my goodbyes to all the members, investigators, and people that I just met, but the work will go on and I know that I will be blessed no matter where I am!  I am on the Lords errand to do his will! 

I was able to do a double exchange this week.  The first day I went on exchanges with Elder Bulpitt who is my Zone leader in his area, and then I went on an exchange with elder Connor who came to my area.  Both days were filled with success.  I went tracting inside the University of Arkansas and talked to a lot of people!  

We committed one of our investigators to be baptized on may 24th and he was like, "Do you think we can move it to the 11th because I have family coming in that day."  We were like; "Ummmmm YES!" But I'm sad that I will not be here to see the baptism be preformed.  The Renfroes came back from their 2 week vacation Sunday.  It was nice having the mansion all to ourselves!  We only threw 1 party on last Preparation Day (P-day) and had all the elders in our district over where we played a bunch of sports and watched meet the Mormons.  When we asked the Renfroes if we could throw a party their only response was, "Yeah, just as long as you feed our chickens!"  Oh and me and my companion did manage to set the alarm off at the mansion... It was the loudest thing I have ever heard in my entire life!   After we managed to shut off the alarm, there was a woman who called and was like, "You have 60 seconds to give me the password go!"  We didn't know it, so she hung up and the next thing we know there was 3 cop cars outside with officers knocking on our door!  When we opened the door they all came in and what do they see... two teenage boys in a mansion by themselves!  It was so awkward!  This cop was not buying our story at all.   So first off my companion was in regular clothes while I was still in my suit and tie and he asked where we were from.  I was from California and my companion was from Idaho... We both didn't know our phone number because we didn't have it memorized yet... I had a tag in Portuguese that said Elder and he had never heard of a Mormon... This guy was not buying anything but luckily they got a hold of the owners and we were ok!  That was a long night that night!  

We were able to go on a hike today and like I said, everything out here is GREEN!  It kind of reminds me of Hawaii, but there's no ocean. 

Anyways I love you all and thank you for all of your love and support!

Arkansas is very green!  Beautiful hike!

My first red neck bonfire! people out here call me a "cityboy" quite often.

Elder Connor who went on an exchange with me this week! I love this kid, he is a stud!

4 dots and I'm going to Brazil!!!