Aug 24, 2009 Letter from THE Crystal!

Why hello heeeelllllllooo!!! (tune to the happy birthday primary song)-Here I am, one week older and wiser too- heres my letter... To you! So here it is- preperation day!! We are on PD2M today- of course that stands for Preperation Day 2tha Max! Meaning we need to CRUISE and get all our shoppping and etc.. done in a timely matter! and we did! it only took us 46$ 30 minutes and 4 items of food later to get us out of the grocery store! ahha.. but really. we are SO poor. Ive never had to TRULY "budget" my grocery money! and as we ALL know.. I LOVe to eat. and i love to eat a LOT of food.. Yeah. we thats cut down to PB&J sammys everyday, crackers and occassionally a candy bar here and there.. Im LIVING off of pb&j sammys- Thanks to mommy, I like em! Everything is SO expensive here- its outrageous! but meh, is all rrrriiggghhhtt..
> So this week was meh.. ok.. I was ill with this terrible pain in my stomach! I was folded over most of the day. Then the next couple days i was throwing up for no reason.. that was a good time.. and now my dear lips are skinless!! they are SSOO sore and red.. bless their lil hearts! I do NOT know what is wrong with me- im just a mess!! But my stomach pains, that Ive been having for the past few years- i was told by one of the Elders (who is a doctor), that its due to stress!!! WWWHHHAAATTT? to my shock- he said that I put too much pressure on myself and tend to work too hard and be too much of a 'perfectionist' . ahha i kind of laughed, but can see where he would get that idea from! ahha. SO he is so kind and would call me at night or when the pain was too unbearable and he would go through this relaxation exercise with me.. to put me to sleep and to help me not focus on the pain. they helped- for a bit. but bless his heart how kind of him! ssoo.. im getting better and pushing along!
> This week has been a 'sad day' for me and the work. I found myself not working or pushing as hard as i normally do- NOT good. but Im back on track and ready to share the best message ever with EVERYONE! Yyyaeeahh!
> We had Zone Conference this week- that was prettttttyyy fun! I saw one of my favorite missionaries- Elder Liechty- he is HILARIOUS and we are OUT OF CONTROL when we are together! well of course we are still dignified and all.. BUT we have a great time. so that was great! There is SO much to learn in those meetings- i LOVE it. I just wish i could remember everything so i could do much better at applying it!
> I LOVe my companion.. seriously. Sister Reynders is the perfect companion for me right now.. I was praying for her and the Lord surely knows what we need! We have such a great time together. we are quickly becoming great friends! I just love love love her!
> So we are teaching this lady and she KNOWS the church is true, KNOWS JS to be a prophet and the BofM to be true.. yet she doesnt want to get baptised! ugh its ssoo frusterating.. we are going to have to lay down the law and ask why not! well.. i did- she said she doesnt know enough.. well i gave her an amazing analogy- and she still said yeah that makes sense.. but i still want to know more.. well. *gulp*... *sigh* i dont know.. all i can do is pray! so we dont have a ton of investigators at this time.. just a few of them- but we are finding like crazy!!! we need to say something to truly spark enough interest for them to actually meet with us later! we have about.. hhmm.. 4 sisters that made appointments with us and totally ditched out. ugh if they only knew what they were missing out on!
> well.. I love the ward- they are all soo sweet and dear to me!! Bishop Wood is really great too! he is always interacting with the members and he participates in everything!! Such a good man!
> well.. thats about all the news I have for this week. I was ill so I saw more of my eyelids and the toliet than i did anything else. I hope you are all doing well!! I love you all! OH and DONT be scared to write!! wahahhaha..
>
> Take Care.
> Love- Sister Horning

Aug 18, 09 Sis Horning Letter!

Why hello hello one and all! Here I am, just having a grand ol' time in Winnipeg Eh! I LOVE it here! I love the ward- the singles are SO fun- its a pretty good sized ward, I think there are about 30 active members in the ward. I love it- they all come to all of the activities and are sssoo close! Its a good example! My companion Sister Reynders is HILARIOUS! We have just a good time together and teach really well as a companionship. I learn loads from her! I love street contacting the mostest!! Especially when we go downtown.. The downtown is really neat! They have so many interesting shops and so many people gathered. The style and culture is very strong. There are TONS of homeless people that just sit on the grass, play music, clean the car windows and other random things for money. I really like that about the people- most of them WORK for money- not just beg. I think that is really neat of them. They are my FAVORITE people to teach!! Sister Reynders makes fun of me because I talk to every 'less fortunate" person we see. They make me laugh so hard and they are almost always the most humble- so they listen and really enjoy the uplifting messages we share. The other day we were teaching 4 First Nation (similar to/same as Indians), and one of them was totally drunk and asking my companion to marry him- yeah we bolted shortly after- BUT the other 3 we were talking to really liked the stories from the BofM and I gave em a BofM and some passalong cards. They liked it.. We meet a lot of interesting people.. Weve only had hhmm.. like 5 or 6 people be REALLY rude and say rude things to us or just literally SLAM the door in our faces.. But we laugh and get a kick out of it.. so Its all good. We had one of our investigators Carmen, come to church with us! It was SUCH a blessing! We didnt see her before church started so we just went inside- I was praying the WHOLE time that she would show up and be able to hear the testimonies of the congrigation.. After sacrament meeting- there was Carmen!! Sitting on the couch outside the chapel doors! she said she heard the speakers andreally enjoyed them!! I was SSOO thankful for that! REWIND TO SACRAMENT- we had the congrigation speak b/c there was a YSA conference (18 stakes were invited and only 3 people outside our ward showed! SAD), so they just had sacrament meeting- everyone baring their testimonies.. THEN Elder Smith from the Quarm of the 70s.. The meeting was overflowing with the spirit! It was amazing! the Elders in the ward (elder Sainsbury and elder ShultZe) had 2 investigators come. One of them is a man from Africa named Harrison- he is really tall and SUPER skinny- the heart of a giant! he is totally humble and really really nice! The other mans name is Bernie- totally receptive, from Canada and reminds me (lookwise), of Shaun. They both LOVED the meeting- I asked them both how it went- Bernie-" I LOVED IT! I could feel the spirit the whole time! Youll see me here next week!" and Harrison "it was very good. I really liked hearing from the people".. Harrison actually got up and 'bore his testimony', he said that he was looking for God, that he was wanting to know what is true. So tender! i just bawled when I saw him cmoing towards the pulpit. that takes SSOO much courage to do that! Bless his heart!
The Lord works miracles every day! OOOHh. so Friday is was raining like crazy! We went out street contacting and it didnt seem too bad- until youre out there for HOURS on end! we still were able to teach in the rain and had 3 new investigators that day! we taught so many lessons I loved it!! The Lord blesses us- especially if we do what we are supposed to, have a good attitude about it- even when it seems tough. I kNOw we were blessed because of our cheerful attitudes!! we were singing any 'freetime' we didnt see people on the streets. OH! so Winnipeg MAY be the 8th largest city in Canada- but there is only like 700,000 people here! Its not big at all! we see people we taught all the time- as were walking down Broadway downtown. Its actually really neat seeing them- they ALWAYS have good things to say about us.. we do our best to be good to everyone and talk to everyone.. I love it here.. i KNOW this Gospel IS true! I know that the Lord loves all of us and always wants the best for us. I know that we can achieve a greater happiness if we rely on the Lord and truly know Him and Christ better. I have done a ton of research about the church while Ive been out here. ive also heard a lot of things- but I can tell you this- I have NEVER been SSOO happy and have such a feeling of WORTH while ive been out here.. I get rude people, doors slammed- rejection ALL day.. yet I have never felt better. There MUST be truth to that.. there MUST be someone watching over me- keeping me safe. i know that seeing people become uplifted when they have their questions about life answered is one of the most tender things I see. I love it here. I love the mission and I love the Gospel. If we do what we are asked- just like in the scriptures- we will learn and have a fullness of Joy. Thank you all for the love and support you all have shown me. I truly appreciate it. there is so much about this gospel i want to share- but not near enough time! I learn something new every day. I Learn more and more about God and His hand in my life- about Jesus Christ and His life and Atonement- I learn FIRST hand- not just through reading. I am so greatful for the examples you have all had in my life.. I am so glad to have the Gospel in my life and to be able to share the gospel.. to TOTALLY dedicate my time and 18 months of my Life to what has brought me the MOST joy i have ever felt.

Thank you..
I love you all! Take care- and dont even worry- I pray for the family and KNOW that the sacrifices I make and hard times Ill go through these 18 months will for sure bless all the family. Read D&C 100.1 its when joseph and Sydney were away from the families. it says that the Lord will watch over them.. that is so true. you are all being watched over!

SEND LETTERS AND PICTURES! thanks Celeste and Rochelle and family for the letters! I will write ytou back now!
goota go!
-Sister Horning

Canada post from Sis. Horning Aug 11,09

SSOO Im in the Canada Winnipeg YSA area- I love it here! Its just the young single adult ward- ages 18-30. We go tracting and street contacting every day- i love it! I remember my first door- i was SSSOOO scared!! yikes! BUT im getting more used to it and we have already seen miracles- to me, when anyone is willing to listen to the message we have and interact- THAT alone is a miracle! ahah. its tiring but feels great when someone listens. we have taught 25 lessons in just 4 days! so we are CRUISING along. My companion is Sister Reynders (sounds like grinder without the g). She is sweet and i love her more and more every day! So today Is preparation day-we went shopping- everything is EXPENSIVE here! UGH...ssoo we played basketball and football... I accidently got 'tackled' by one of the elders- we were actually running towards the ball and didnt see eachother- i FLEW on my butt!! ahah it was pretty funny- but kind of hurt and he felt TERRIBLE. bless his heart! I love the gospel. I love Winnipeg and the people! I can hear myself already getting an accent- but its ok i like it! surprisingly (to me), we have only had one lady YELL at us for tracting to her door.. i just smiled, thanked her for her time and walked on. Heavenly Father bless HER heart! There was a blessing of a family that we tracted into yesterday.. THeir names are the Crumps. They are SO sweet- the dad is fromt eh west indies and the mother from philipeans. They have 3 kids and TONS of little dogs.. litterally.. TOns. i think like 6-9 of them! wow! so Sted (the dad), opened the door- and invited us to the back yard to talk to him and his family. we taught them about the Plan of salvation, book of mormon, Joseph smith- just kept on going for about 45 minutes. they were LOVING it. they had a lot of similar beliefs.. and sted said a couple months back missionaries dropped by a BOM but havent come back since-they call but thats it.. he said he believes it and reads it daily!! i should have just pulled out the ol' " give me 5 minutes, Ill get a priesthood holder and well baptise you in your pool" trick- but I wasnt thinking at the time.. hhmm. so they agreed to have the missionaries come over and continue teaching! Heavenly Father be with this familY!! so that was really nice to run into someone like that. a lot of people here believe in CHrist, but havent thought about life after death or the purpose of life or anything.. We have an appointment tonigth and its this sweet lady Joelle (shes 19) that we tracted into. I hope all goes well!.. Well.. things are really good and I LOVE it here.. te days are passing QUICKLY!
Thanks for keeping me updated on life.. please continue to do so! Take care and thank you again for EVERYTHING you do!
OH! heres my address the WHOLE time im in Canada-
Sister Crystal Horning
845 Shaftesbury Blvd.
Winnipeg, MB R3P 0M5
Canada

Sister Horning is in CANADA!!

Why hello there lil familY! I say "hello" from the great white north! KALUKA KOOKA KOOKA LLUU!!! The flight was great! it was really short- and today was awesome! I woke up at 3 to get my bags packed and ready. I talked to a lady Pam at the airport- talked about her family and gave her a 'how to strengthen families' passalong card. she was really sweet. I ALSO talked to this guy david that works at the airline- he said his dauther just got back from his mission.. then he said he needed to reprint the sisters boarding passes. He comes back to me like 10 minutes later and tells me to have a great day.. i look- and he upgraded us to first class!! what a lil cutie!! so that was really cool. I talked to this guy in line and hes like "oh so youre going to try to convert Canada huh?" my response- "yep.. and you!".. ahah i love this work and im seriously talking to EVERYONE.. I havent fully approached the gospel to everyone- but i tell them who I am, why im going to Canada and explain a bit about the church. everyone else in my district loves it- they all think im nuts. I love it here- were getting all the paper work and such done.. so here is my address:
SIster Crystal Horning
845 Shaftesbury Boulevard
WInnipeg, MB R3P 0M5
Canada
Make sure you ALWAYS use that address!! thats where all mail goes to!

Im doing great- working hard and loving it! I meet my companion tomorrow! Im so excited!- THe mission President and his wife are SO cute and super sweet. I better be on my way! Send me letters and/or emails!! please give me all the family members my address and GIVE ME their physical and email addresses AND numbers.. Erica- please put this email on my web page and make sure to include that i DO NOT have anyones email or physical addresses!! THank you all for all your love and support. I love you adn pray for you!!!

-SIster HOrning