We are the Armies of Helaman

                                        McKayla with Ashley Moody from Florida home ward!

                                                          Making friends at the MTC

     

Beautiful Mexico MTC

 

Beautiful Mexico MTC

                                   The bench where McKayla and her companion like to study

                                                    The houses overlooking the MTC

                                                                   Going into town

                                                               Mexico City Temple

7-29-14

It was another great week this week! I don't have a ton of time to write but I found out that I can email friends, not just family, now, so that's exciting! 

On Saturday, apparently it was St. Mary's day, so we could hear the Mexicans partying all day and ALL night long.  It was so fun! At one point during the night they started playing the Macarena, so my roommates and I all jumped up and starting doing it.  It was a fiesta in the Casa Rosada! 

So story time... there's an elder in our district who got bit by a mosquito and it  laid eggs in his leg! IN HIS LEG! If that's not the grossest thing I've ever heard, I don't know what it.  But they told him he had to wait a couple of days to take the eggs out, because the mosquitoes needed to grow more in order for them to take them out. EW. Apparently that's a thing that happens in Mexico because our teacher told us that he knows two other missionaries that that has happened to.  Sweet. 

So we found out on Sunday that our MTC President here, President Pratt, was mission companions with Elder Holland. ELDER HOLLAND.  So cool.  Elder Holland mentioned President Pratt in a devotional we watched this week.  So awesome. 

Anyway, so at one point this week we had a really spiritual day, and afterwards one of our teachers, Hermano Martinez came in and talked to us.  He read to us Alma 57:25, which talks about the Army of Helaman, and how a lot of the army was wounded, but none were killed.  He told us that we are the Army of Helaman, and he feels as if he's our Helaman, but not quite, because that's Christ, but he's someone helping and watching us.  There will be times when we will get down and be wounded, but we will never fall.  I loved that.  I have always loved the story of the Army of Helaman, so it's so cool to think of myself as part of it.  I love it.  I love serving a mission.  It is, by far, the greatest thing I've ever done with my life. 

Con Mucho Amor, 

Hermana Horne 

Changing the World, One Heart at a Time

7-22-14

This week has been so great!!! Thank you for all the letters from family... I loved them all!  In the letter from Grandma Horne she said that her Uncle had actually started the school that is now the Mexico CCM (MTC).  That is SO COOL! It makes being here at the Mexico CCM feel so much more special, knowing that I have family that started it, lived here, and walked these streets.  I love it. Every day I love being here more and more.  This gospel is so good.  I love that I get to be a part of sharing it. 

So the highlight of my week was probably today. We got to go to the Mexico City Temple! We didn't get to do a session, though, because it's closed for construction.  But just being there was awesome! It's so beautiful!  And driving through the city was so fun.  I love seeing how other cultures and people live.  

The other day, Hermana Carlson and I were studying outside (it's too beautiful here to not study outside) and a little red plane flew over us a couple of times, announcing in Spanish things that were on sale.  It was pretty cool.

Anyway, this week was great for so many other reasons as well. Yesterday, we had a cool experience where our district ''taught'' one of the elders in our district.  He left the room as we prepared things to say to him and then came back in for us to teach him.  We've all frown pretty close, and we all love this one elder so it was so cool teaching him.  Half of us (including me) were crying by the end of it, because we love him and we could feel God's love for him, and the Spirit was so strong.  At the end our teacher told us that if we could teach our investigators with the same love that we have for this elder then we will do great.  It was awesome. 

So funny story... the other night at dinner I was squirting some Blue Cheese dressing out of a pump dispenser and it shot out all over me! It got all over my clothes and arm, and all the elders were standing in line watching this happen.  It was like a scene straight out of a movie.  It was so funny.  I was laughing pretty hard, and so were the elders.  Afterwards, I was telling my district about it and one of our elders asked if I wanted him to go beat anyone up for laughing, since he's like my older brother.  LOL. It was so funny, I don't blame anyone for laughing, but that just shows how close we've gotten.  

So we get like 50 minutes of gym time every day, and lately a bunch of the Hermanas and I have been playing sports and I absolutely love it! We've played some  volleyball, basketball, and soccer.  And, believe it or not, I actually have loved playing soccer.  I used to hate it, but it's so fun here! 

Anyway, we had an awesome devotional this week by the Director of the CCM, Shawn Cates.  One of my favorite things he said was, ''You have a front row seat to one of the greatest miracle there is... a change of heart.'' I loved that.  I feel so blessed to be here and can't wait to witness the changing of lives and hearts.  I know my life has already changed for the better just from these first three weeks.

Also, I am so beyond excited that Spencer started his papers!!! I can't wait to find out where he gets called! No matter where it is, I know he's going to love it!  Being a missionary is one of the coolest experiences.  I can't wait for Spencer to have the same love and desire to bring others to Christ, and witness the miracle of a changed heart.  

Love you all!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Horne

                                                                  McKayla's District

                                                    Hermana Horne and Hermana Carlson

Great Week!

7-15-14

So this week has been GREAT! I can really feel the Spirit here and I'm starting to really like it.  It's still hard, but it's a good hard.  I can really feel the prayers and love of family and friends.  I've run into several people from BYU this week, which makes it really fun.  I love seeing people I know here.  

Learning Spanish is getting a little more difficult, but I'm so glad I had Ms.Villadoniga  as a Spanish teacher in high school.  She taught us so much, I just wish I remembered more of it!  But I had a kind of funny experience with Spanish this week.  Some girls who only speak Spanish sat down next to me and lunch one day so I tried to talk to them.  I asked where they were from (all in Spanish) and found out they were from Guatemala, sweet.  Then one of them asked me something, and I thought it was where I was from so I said Florida, but then I second-guessed myself and said I'd be serving my mission in California.  But that didn't appear to be the answer they wanted either because they just stared at me, so I told them I had been here for a week.  That wasn't the right answer either.  They just smiled at each other and shook their heads.  Obviously I had no idea what they had asked. So it was kind of embarrassing but I think I'm going to have to get used to those kind of encounters for a little while.

So we're in the heart of Mexico City here, and we can hear gunshots at night all the time! It's the craziest thing.  But I know we're protected because we're on the Lord's errand.  And also by 15 foot walls of barbed wire.  But it's really interesting. We also hear stray dogs barking all the time.  There was one night (we sleep with our window open because there's not central heating or cooling) when I swear every dog in the city decided to howl and bark at the moon.  It was crazy.  We can also hear the sounds of the city all the time.  Saturday night there was a huge fiesta that went on all night long.  It's so fun to hear.  And they shoot cannons or fireworks or something off all the time.  Apparently it's for the Saints?

Anyways, so this week has been so great, and one of the reasons why is because i realized that when you align your will with the will of God that's when you'll be truly happy.  When I first got here I was still thinking about all the things I'd be missing and I still wanted those things.  But I've gained a desire to not just be here, but be fully invested here, and that has been one of the best things for me.  There's a talk by a mission president called ''The Fourth Missionary'' and one of the things it says is why give up everything to be here, but not get anything out of it? The way we get something out of our mission experience is not just by doing what the Lord has asked of us, but DESIRING to do it.  That's made such a big difference for me!  

And I've seen a lot of tender mercies from the Lord this week.  There was one night when I was feeling a little down and my companion, Hermana Carlson started singing the hymn ''Lead Kindly Light''.  The lyrics were so comforting to me.  I was so glad she started singing it.  It made me feel a lot better.

Also, I'm starting to understand the scriptures in Spanish... un poco... a little.  But it's such a cool feeling to read a scripture in Spanish and not have to look up the English translation of it!

Third tender mercy of this week:  there was another point when I was feeling a little homesick (which has only happened twice this week) and an elder in our district opened up his scriptures to a random page.  It was D&C 31.  He shared it with my companion and I and it was EXACTLY what I needed at that moment. It's the Lord talking to Thomas B. Marsh, a missionary and in D&C 31:6 it says, ''Behold, verily I say unto you, go from them (your family) only for a little time, and declare my word, and I will prepare a place for them.''  Ah, I love that. So many blessings come from serving a mission and I can see that already.  And I know they won't just come to me, but my family also, as I'm away from you guys for only a little while. This work is so great.  

Sending lots and lots of love from the heart of Mexico City,

Hermana Horne

MTC Life 7-8-14

So first off, my mission president apparently made a rule that were only allowed to email family.  So friends, write me letters! The rule might change once I get to the field, because we get a new mission president, but for now its only letters.  So this week has been a rough one.  Its been hard being away from my family with
virtually no contact and such a rigorous schedule. We literally study all day.  But I know the studying will help me in the end. 

Mom, I don't feel like I'm getting enough sleep but Im getting about 8 hours every night, so that should be enough.  But I get to take a nap today!  Woohoo! The little things that make you happy here.  But even though this is hard for me, I know I need to struggle, because from this I turn to my scriptures so much more now. They are SUCH a huge comfort to me. Alma 17:11 is a scripture that I came across and it brought me so much peace.  A lot of the beginning chapters of Alma have because they're all about missionary work. I gave a 10 minute devotional to my district and talked all about that.  

Our schedules are crazy.  We wake up at 6:20 or 6:30 everyday.  Then have study, breakfast, gym time (which I LOVE), then we have a teacher teach us for a couple of hours, lunch, personal study, and studying for hours, we each an investigator (all in Spanish! My companion doesn't know any Spanish so I do a lot of the talking.  But its nice.  It makes me realize how much Spanish I actually do know), dinner, more studying, then we get to go home to bed! 

Dad, our house has a lot of pink on it so I call it La Casa Rosada, which reminds me of you, because the original Casa Rosada is in Argentina! 

Sundays are great! We get to kind of relax and just be spiritually uplifted in all the meetings.  And we have a devotional, which is probably the best part of the day.  Sundays was on missionary work by elder Holland (it was an old one), and we get another one today! It was such reassurance that I'm doing the right thing by being out here, even though its hard.  A lot of people have told me it gets better after the first week so I'm holding out for that.  But I can already tell Im so much closer to the spirit.  I tear up and an overwhelmed with the spirit at almost anything spiritual. My companion has been a great help to me. I know a lot more Spanish than her so I have to help her with that.  And shes not ever homesick, which is good and bad. It makes me feel bad for feeling homesick, but shes a good supports. Oh also on Sunday we got to watch the Joseph Smith movie that plays in SLC! I love watching movies and that's one of my favorite church ones so that was great! And on the fourth of July we all sang the national anthem at lunch, which made me tear up.  It was incredibly powerful. And they had apple pie them! (Usually most the food is Mexican food, with the exception of the option of cereal always). And the mangos here are SO GOOD.  I eat them whenever they put them out.  

One thing that I've realized since being out here is how RIGHT my mission call is for ME.  At first, I had really wanted to go foreign, but since being here I know that my call is perfect for me. I'm so excited to get to California! Despite the difficulties here, I know I've already grown so much.  I've found so much peace in my district of elders (even though Hermana Carlson and I are the only Hermanas, which is kind of hard).  But I love them already! I can see the Lords hand in my life.  Its incredible.  I love you guys!

Top Ten this Week: 

1.The support and love of my family and friends! 

2.District Meeting Sunday night (we were all bawling, and such a strength to each other. 

3.Elder Hollands Devotional 

4. The Joseph Smith movie 

5.Singing on the 4th of July
6..Mangos and apple pie 

7.The view from our front door (there's so many cool houses up on the mountain that are so colorful!) 8.Teaching lessons in Spanish 

9.THE SPIRIT HERE 

10.Finding so much peace in the scriptures.                                  

Con mucho amor, Hermana Horne

Arrival

Hi! Mexico City is so colorful and authentic and almost impoverished! I love it! The flights went well. I made friends right away in the airport, so you dont have to worry, mom. There was literally an army of us... the Army of Helaman.  Literally.  We took over probably 75% of the plane.  It was SO COOL. I loved traveling with everyone.  So its probably good that I flew out of SLC, although people met us in Mexico from all over. And I didn't cry once after I got past security. My P-day in the MTC is on tuesdays so thats when I'll be able to write you again.  Im loving it already.  Except for this nagging headache.  Pray it'll go away quickly. Apparently the houses we are staying in are nicer than they would be in Provo and the campus is beautiful and the weathers nice! BUT the mexico city temple will be closed for like 2 years so I'm not going to be able to go to it! But we get to go the visitors center.  Also I saw the Collins girl from our stake.  And a kid from my mission prep class at BYU.  And I love my companion already. Things are good:) My address is:

Sister McKayla Christine Horne

12/08/2014 8D

Carretera Tenayuca-Chalmita #828
Colonia Zona Escolar, Gustavo A. Madero
07230 Mexico, Distrito Federal
Mexico

I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

Write me, write me, write me!

Sending lots and lots of love from MEXICO CITY,

Hermana Horne