WEEK 36 - Fighting Demons

A considerable portion of my mission has been spent thinking about myself. Whatever happened, whether it was good or bad, I would always think about how it affected me. This was an extremely mid mindset and it needed to be corrected. The best missionary I have ever met or will ever meet, Elder Barker (may he rest in peace (he finished his mission)) one day decided to give me an attitude adjustment. One time we were on an exchange and I forgot what happened but he kinda just without warning was like “This isn’t about you Elder Horsley. Stop pretending like it is.” When he first said that in my mind I was like “that was a dumb statement” but now I realize that that is the greatest advice I have received on my entire mission. When Jesus Christ was in the Garden Of Gethsemane do you think that He was focusing on Himself? No. He was not. He focused on you, because He loves you. After realizing that this advice might actually be useful, I decided to implement it. My goodness, my missionary work is unrecognizable compared to what it was before. It’s no longer about me whatsoever and I love it. It is so exhausting thinking about yourself so often so this is honestly just a weight off my shoulders. Oh my heavens, the missionary work is going so much better now. The act of taking all of the faith I had on myself and giving it to the Lord has changed my mission and my life. When I came to Texas they said “ah this is a really low baptizing mission” “everyone here already knows Jesus” “ah most people here will just bash you” shut it. These statements are dumb and false. We are seeing so much success contradicting all of these statements and it is all because of the Lord. What I learned from Elder Barker is that it is not about you, and don’t ever put limits on the Lord. I hope you read this Elder Barker I love you so much. Like 7 months ago there was a half solar eclipse here and I had no glasses and wanted to pass away cause everyone was enjoying watching this insane phenomenon and I was feeling like a predator just lurking around people eager to borrow their glasses for 45 minutes straight. So I bought some and they have not left my side for 7 months. That was a great decision by my past self, because there was a full solar eclipse this last monday and it was literally one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I will never be found unstrapped again. There was no point to this story, I just wanted everyone to know that I saw a full solar eclipse. Here is my week: - Monday night was so cool. It was like a monsoon outside and that was way hype. When people open the door and see soaked and downtrodden Elder Yee ask them if he can share a scripture, they are a lot more receptive, so that always calls for a lovely night. We had a lesson with literally the coolest man any missionary in the entire world is teaching right now. His name is Keyjun and he is so down with the gospel and he is getting baptized soon and I am way hyped for him. We asked him to read the chapter in Nephi where it talks about the iron rod and the tree of life. He loved the chapter and we started asking some questions. I was like “Keyjun what do you think the iron rod that brings us closer to God represents?” and he was like “the gospel things in life” and I was like “ok what about the river where people have to choose which side they go?” and he was like “the choice we have to follow God” and so I was sure Keyjun was gonna get this next one so I didn’t help him at all and was like “Keyjun what do you think the great and spacious building represents?” and I think he got it confused with the tree of life, because he put his arms out and looked at the sky and was like “heaven” I was like “ya kinda like a worldly heaven, your right Keyjun” and he felt good about it and so did we. I love this man so much and I am so excited to baptize him. He told us about some missionary work he has been doing when he goes to work. He always brings his Book Of Mormon to work and he said some co workers asked about it, and he said told them “this is the new bible, you need one” gosh darn it I love Keyjun so much. He is a better missionary than I ever could hope to be. We taught the Book Of Mormon again and he liked it even more the second time. But actually though, he is an insanely good missionary and I will tell you why in an upcoming email hehe. He might be the most elect person I have found on my mission. - Later that night the storm only got worse and we went to my man Anthony to teach him about the restoration. Anthony stepped outside to hear our message and the rain around us was so incredibly loud. We told him about the Book Of Mormon and it seemed like Anthony was loving it. There was thunder that would shake the building like every 7 seconds, so Anthony decided to test his luck. Anthony just absolutely rips one (farted) during our restoration story. This rain was insanely loud, but Anthony’s flatulence overpowered it by quite a bit. I fought literal demons trying not to laugh when it happened. He started twiddling his thumbs and looked down at the ground and was like “I'm sorry.” Judas, it took every ounce of my soul not to laugh. I was like “your OK Anthony, don’t even worry about it” while Elder Yee was literally tearing up trying not to laugh. Anthony timed it barely wrong because thunder hit like 5 seconds later and it made it even more funny. Anyways after using every fiber of my being to stay composed we finished the lesson and Anthony was like “that’s cool. I like the Bible more” and then he called it a day. Oh Anthony. What a pure soul he is. Missionaries are gonna find him again one day and he is definitely gonna get baptized, cause he is just so legendary. - Later in the week we got the wonderful opportunity to help these members of another ward move. We pulled up and I started to get to know everyone. Everyone was pretty normal and then I got to like the last two and this older guy hit me with the most pure Texan accent I had ever heard. I could understand maybe 35% of what he was saying and I loved it. He had a nice big belt buckle and you could tell this man was passionate about his firearms. So he became my friend and we talked the whole time. He started talking about how he nearly made the PGA tour and then he transitioned into talking about the missionary who baptized him. He said that this dude's brother murdered his Sister and it was “one big mess.” Again I was not registering the majority of this conversation, but this guy was so dope. If I could develop that accent my life would be complete, if I could just kidnap him and put him in my pocket and take him home I absolutely would’ve. This job we were doing was quite hot, and some of the stuff was super heavy. After about 15 minutes of moving I heard a loud groan from my dearest companion Elder Yee. I looked up at him and he was sweating more than I previously have seen a human being do. It looked like this poor boy was gonna evaporate. I love being Elder Yee’s companion so much he is so dope, but I don’t think this was his favorite service opportunity of all time. We finished up and it was time to go, and my Texas accent friend pulled me aside and asked me my height and weight and wrote it down and said he was gonna text his friends. I was like “absolutely. 6’3” 203!” and I didn’t even think twice about it until I am writing this email. I hope that knowing my height and weight has benefited my friend, because all of his wisdom has changed me. - I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY AHHHHHH. Life is so good right now. It is hard for sure at times, but it brings me so much joy. I love this experience and I love you all more than anyone else on earth loves you. I’d love to hear from you if you would like to chat, if not I hope your life is just wonderful right now. Have a great week, thanks for reading this one, it was fun to write! - Elder Yee content: https://photos.app.goo.gl/qwGY1QhS99ne5wGy8 - Pictures are back: 1. pre gym with the fellas 2. preparing for solar eclipse 3. me being sad cause Elder Yee is drenched 4. big chastity guy 5. leadership call