5th Week in MTC - Last Week at the MTC! Elder Brennen Horton

I Hope They Call Me on a Mission Again:

Hello all!

Elder Arnold in our district is the only one who received his flight plan to Brazil this week.  The only reason Elder Arnold received his visa is because he is the only one out of all of us what went through the Georgia consulate instead of the LA consulate.  Therefore, everyone else who did not receive flight plans, including me, will be reassigned this week to a state side mission.  Time to guess where I'm going again!  I'll keep you posted!

It's finally my LAST week in the MTC!  I never thought in 5 weeks I would be ready to speak Portuguese but I am pretty confident I have a basic concept of the Portuguese language now.

The other 2 Portuguese districts above us in our zone left today so now we are the oldest missionaries here going to Brazil.  We received a new district this week of 3 elders and 6 sisters. There are more sisters than elders in our whole Brazil zone and get this..., tomorrow we are receiving 2 more districts going to Brazil/ Portugal/ Capo Verde/ and 1 Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.  That's a total of 19 missionaries (13 Elders and 5 Sisters) and even then we will still have more sisters than elders.  In fact, there's almost more sisters than elders at the whole MTC.  I thought it was crazy because we had a devotional with the whole MTC and the speaker asked all of the sisters to stand and there was SO many.   Next he asked how many of you sisters still would have served if they didn't lower the age limit.  After he asked this almost ALL of them sat down... INTENSE!

Speaking of devotionals, we had an Apostle come this week!  About time!  Quetin L. cook came and gave a talk on Missionary calls and work.  He talked about how there is 3 things that usually decide where your going and this is usually the same with every apostle:

1. You will do well with a certain mission president.
2. You will need the language at some point in your life
3. There is someone out there that only you can touch

He also said that if he assigns you to somewhere that was wrong that he will get a STRONG feeling that he needs to go back and rethink where he sent you.  I also found out that reassignments even come from the apostles. 

So Elder Nelson had his family send every elder in my room matching purple ties this week so when all 6 of us walk around, we find that everyone is staring at us because we stand out.

I finished reading the Book Of Mormon.  This time read it slow and tried to take in more than just read to finish. It has been very beneficial to me as I now have marked it up with references for any question I could ever get. 

We had Skype TRC with members in Brazil and we gave them a lesson in Portuguese.  The name of the member I taught was Renan.  It was during this lesson I realized I knew a lot more Portuguese than I give myself credit for. He said my Portuguese was great and he could feel the spirit when I talked, so that was a great motivating factor to me.  I realize now that I didn't come to the MTC just to learn Portuguese.  Yes that is a big part of it, but I have learned so much more than just Portuguese.  I have 2 teachers here who served in Brazil and Capo Verde. They are both students at BYU and have been back from their mission for about a year.  Even though they always speak Portuguese, they have taught me how to really teach by the spirit.  That it will not be me that converts people, but it will be the spirit.  I am merely the Lords mouthpiece. 

I love the spirit I feel here everyday and I recognize it better now.  I feel the prayers everyone offers for me and they definitely strengthen and help me.  Thank you all for all of your love and support. 

LOVE

-Elder Horton

My address until March 25, 2015 to the MTC is:

Elder Brennen Tyler Horton

MAR23 BRA-FORE

2011 N 900 E Unit 201

Provo UT 84602

Elder Nelson had his family send every elder in my room matching purple ties this week. So when all 6 of us walk around we find that everyone is staring at us because we stand out.  

The "Purple Tie" District

Elder Key our Big Samoan Brother, he is probably the biggest dude here at the MTC. he got a package last week the size of a store, he is always giving us food and one of the most loving men i have ever met. whenever he sees us he yells " BRAZIL"