October 22, 2009
Helloooo everyone!
It has been one CRAZY week! First off, let me tell you that we had transfers and Sister Ferguson and I are staying together in Lititz. Yay! I love Lititz! BUT we are taking over a set of elder's area. We shared a ward with a set of elders who were serving in Ephrata but their area got closed down and now we are taking it over. I'm excited about it though because they are working with a lot of fun people and have a lot of progressing less-actives! Not so many investigators (except one who is EXTREMELY golden except for the fact that he's trying to quit smoking). We'll stay pretty busy these next couple weeks, but I'm excited for it. Bring it on!
Let me back up a little bit and tell you everything that has gone on this past weekend.....it's a lot! First of all, on Sunday, I had to give my first talk in sacrament meeting on my mission. And they asked me to do it Saturday night at 8:00 pm with church at 9:00 on Sunday. hahaha, this lady in our ward was supposed to give a talk and she forgot she had to work on Sunday. She's a little newer in the ward and doesn't have a ward list, so she called us to have us tell the bishopbric that she can't do it. Oh my, you know when you get a call like that, the talk has now fallen into your hands! hahaha. So I made my companion call the bishop :) And then of course she ratted me out and volunteered me to give it. That trickster, but she had already given a talk in this ward so I guess it was fair. I have to tell you it was a pretty scattered but it was on compassionate service so I just told a lot of stories and shared some quotes from a talk from the april general conference :)
We had our Mission Tour this past Monday up in Altoona. Altoona is in the middle of the state and all the missionaries from the east side of the mission gathered there. We got a call on Saturday night telling us that on Sunday night, we were going to be driving up to State College (where Penn State is) to stay with another set of sisters for the night. SISTER SLEEPOVER!! haha, it was a ton of fun. But Mission Tour was pretty good. One of the seventy, Elder C. Scott Grow came and visited with us. (he's from Idaho! He was on the school board when Centennial was built, so his name is on a plaque somewhere in there) He was very inspiring though. He had made some changes to our mission, we'll be having zone conferencee and interviews on a monthly basis now instead of every 6 weeks and they also changed up how elders do exchanges, which doesn't effect me too much. He also gave us this Ward Mission Plan that we have to all implement in our wards. It's a great program, I'm so excited for it because it is really going to push the members to be member missionaries! :) Ok I'm almost out of time so I gotta go now. I love you all and miss you all! Have a great week! Can't wait to hear from you again!
Love, Holly
Sorry that the last email was so cut off at the end. I only had a minute left on the computer I was on so I had to cut it off short. But I wanted to finish telling you about mission tour. I told you about some of the changes and some of the implementations we are doing into our ward (which by the way, I hope you are all being GREAT member missionaries and sharing the gospel with everyone you meet :) ) But he also was teaching us in how we need to be better at letting people know our purpose as missionaries. Sometimes as we are teaching these people, we become so close and such good friends that it's hard for us to drop them if they are not progressing. He was telling us how we can't continue to meet with them if they aren't doing anything about progressing. So we have to make that discernment quickly. If they are ready to hear the gospel, great, teach them. If they aren't yet or they can't make up their minds, drop them and wait for a time when they are ready. We can't try to convince them. That was kind of hard to hear because we love some of these people and want to work with them until they accept the gospel. But we also need to be working with those who are ready. Who knows if working with someone who's not ready is holding us back from finding someone who is ready. Oh, such hard decisions sometimes!!!!
Anyway, it was a great time there. Plus I got to see some of my MTC buddies that I haven't seen in 6 months. It was an all day event, from 9-4 then we had to drive back to Lititz that night. Which is about a 3-3 1/2 hour drive. Fun road trip though, right? :)
Well again, hope all is well. I love you all! And miss you all!!
Love, Holly
Monday, November 2, 2009
Week 26- Baby, its cold outside
October 15, 2009
Hi!!
How is everyone doing?? It's still going really well over here! I love it here in Lititz and I pray all the time that I can stay here for another transfer :) Transfers are coming up next Tuesday, so everyone pray too that I can stay here! hahaha.
Greg came to church last sunday for the first time. He really enjoyed it too! I actually had to go to a young single adult class in the ward with a less-active girl so I didn't get to see how Greg liked sunday school. Then we had some meetings after church and didn't see him after priesthood, so I was feeling very left in the dark because I didn't know how he was feeling. Our lesson in relief society/priesthood was on baptisms for the dead so of course I was like "uh-oh!" haha, we hadn't talked about that at all. BUT we met with him yesterday and he said even though he didn't understand it, we still really had fun at church. He is coming again this sunday and still looking forward to his baptism! Of course we explained it all and then we talked about the word of wisdom with him. He is trying to overcome smoking. We set some goals for him and gave him some other suggestions and luckily, he said after he paid all his bills, he doesn't have enough money to buy any cigarettes. haha, such a blessing in disguise right?? Even though he does want to quit, it's still going to be a struggle for him. So will you all pray that he can overcome it??? I'm asking for a lot of prayers today, huh? Oh well, more blessings for you too :)
We also had a less-active family of 9 come to church on sunday. SUCH a surprise to us!!! We had a lesson with Sis. Lay earlier in the week where she opened up to us a lot! She told us that it's a family decision. Once her husband is ready to go to church, then they will go. And surprise!!! They were all at church! I was SOOOOO happy to see them!
Another fun little detail of this week.....this is Sister Deal's last week of her mission! In the last week, she gets to call missionaries in her old areas to get phone numbers and addresses and stuff, so she called me :) (I'm in one of her old areas) It was so fun to talk to her! She also told me that a girl we taught in Dover, Amanda, is getting baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I screamed for so much joy, I was so happy! I am not allowed to go to her baptism since it is out of my zone, but I can write to her now that she is getting baptized :) I'll have her send me pictures!
Last but not least, we do service at a nursing home every week, in the activities department. This week was a SPA day! It was soo much fun! I got to give manicures to all the cute little old women and even one old man! haha, he loved his MAN-icure :)
Ok, this email is long enough for today. Hope all is going well at home and just know that I love and miss all of you!!! Have a great week!
GO BOISE STATE!
Love, Holly
Hi!!
How is everyone doing?? It's still going really well over here! I love it here in Lititz and I pray all the time that I can stay here for another transfer :) Transfers are coming up next Tuesday, so everyone pray too that I can stay here! hahaha.
Greg came to church last sunday for the first time. He really enjoyed it too! I actually had to go to a young single adult class in the ward with a less-active girl so I didn't get to see how Greg liked sunday school. Then we had some meetings after church and didn't see him after priesthood, so I was feeling very left in the dark because I didn't know how he was feeling. Our lesson in relief society/priesthood was on baptisms for the dead so of course I was like "uh-oh!" haha, we hadn't talked about that at all. BUT we met with him yesterday and he said even though he didn't understand it, we still really had fun at church. He is coming again this sunday and still looking forward to his baptism! Of course we explained it all and then we talked about the word of wisdom with him. He is trying to overcome smoking. We set some goals for him and gave him some other suggestions and luckily, he said after he paid all his bills, he doesn't have enough money to buy any cigarettes. haha, such a blessing in disguise right?? Even though he does want to quit, it's still going to be a struggle for him. So will you all pray that he can overcome it??? I'm asking for a lot of prayers today, huh? Oh well, more blessings for you too :)
We also had a less-active family of 9 come to church on sunday. SUCH a surprise to us!!! We had a lesson with Sis. Lay earlier in the week where she opened up to us a lot! She told us that it's a family decision. Once her husband is ready to go to church, then they will go. And surprise!!! They were all at church! I was SOOOOO happy to see them!
Another fun little detail of this week.....this is Sister Deal's last week of her mission! In the last week, she gets to call missionaries in her old areas to get phone numbers and addresses and stuff, so she called me :) (I'm in one of her old areas) It was so fun to talk to her! She also told me that a girl we taught in Dover, Amanda, is getting baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I screamed for so much joy, I was so happy! I am not allowed to go to her baptism since it is out of my zone, but I can write to her now that she is getting baptized :) I'll have her send me pictures!
Last but not least, we do service at a nursing home every week, in the activities department. This week was a SPA day! It was soo much fun! I got to give manicures to all the cute little old women and even one old man! haha, he loved his MAN-icure :)
Ok, this email is long enough for today. Hope all is going well at home and just know that I love and miss all of you!!! Have a great week!
GO BOISE STATE!
Love, Holly
week 25- the real email w/ pictures
October 8, 2009
Hi!
I know I've sent you all like 3 different emails (atleast to mom anyway) but here is the real update email. Conference was amazing this weekend! As a missionary, you really wish the whole world would just come in and listen to it. If only! It was so powerful, all of it. But of course Elder Holland's blew us out of the water :) He's an amazing person!
A few weeks ago, Sis. Ferguson and I met this man who goes to an episciple church. He told us that if we would go to his church, he would go to ours. So this sunday, since conference didn't start til 12:00 for us, we thought it would be a good week to go. It was quite the experience! It was in this beautiful cathedral built in the 1700's and they were all dressed in robes and walked down the middle with a cross and candles and everything. They had a program of the whole service written out and when the letters were bolded, the congregation would say those parts. The pastor gave his little sermon in the middle of it and it was actually pretty good. He talked about how we are not alone in the universe, how there are other worlds too. It was a really good experience though. I was glad to go to conference right after that and listen to the prophet and apostles spoke though....where the truth really is. :) But everyone was very friendly to us at that church. We didn't see the man we talked to...but who knows. Maybe we were there for another purpose.
Here is some really exciting news.......our investigator Greg has a baptismal date!!!!!! :) We asked if he would prepare himself for baptism on November 14th and he is excited to. He hasn't come to church yet, he is supposed to this week, but he is so cool. He loves that we help him feel closer to Christ, he recognizes the changes already he has in his life, and he really just wants to surround himself with good church people. As he continues to progress, he definitely will feel and see so much more change in his life. We're excited for him.
I hope all is well at home. I love all of you and miss you all lots! Have a great week, can't wait to hear from you again next week!!!
Love, Holly
ps. Ok, so finally after 6 months, I'm sending pictures! :) Everytime I go to email I always forgot to bring my camera cord. So here are just a couple.
1.Giving the members "a hand" :) All the missionaries that come into that area get their hand on the wall. Pres. and Sis. Pugh's are on there too!
2. Sis. Deal and I at Gettysburg.
3. Sis. Deal, and Amber Mosely who would go tracting with us every now and then in front of 'Dover, Women of Today' :) We thought that was appropriate to take a picture in front of it.
4. Sis. Ferguson and I in Lititz, nearby our apartment
There are just some. I'll send more at another time when I can remember :) Love you all tons! Bye!
Love, Holly
Hi!
I know I've sent you all like 3 different emails (atleast to mom anyway) but here is the real update email. Conference was amazing this weekend! As a missionary, you really wish the whole world would just come in and listen to it. If only! It was so powerful, all of it. But of course Elder Holland's blew us out of the water :) He's an amazing person!
A few weeks ago, Sis. Ferguson and I met this man who goes to an episciple church. He told us that if we would go to his church, he would go to ours. So this sunday, since conference didn't start til 12:00 for us, we thought it would be a good week to go. It was quite the experience! It was in this beautiful cathedral built in the 1700's and they were all dressed in robes and walked down the middle with a cross and candles and everything. They had a program of the whole service written out and when the letters were bolded, the congregation would say those parts. The pastor gave his little sermon in the middle of it and it was actually pretty good. He talked about how we are not alone in the universe, how there are other worlds too. It was a really good experience though. I was glad to go to conference right after that and listen to the prophet and apostles spoke though....where the truth really is. :) But everyone was very friendly to us at that church. We didn't see the man we talked to...but who knows. Maybe we were there for another purpose.
Here is some really exciting news.......our investigator Greg has a baptismal date!!!!!! :) We asked if he would prepare himself for baptism on November 14th and he is excited to. He hasn't come to church yet, he is supposed to this week, but he is so cool. He loves that we help him feel closer to Christ, he recognizes the changes already he has in his life, and he really just wants to surround himself with good church people. As he continues to progress, he definitely will feel and see so much more change in his life. We're excited for him.
I hope all is well at home. I love all of you and miss you all lots! Have a great week, can't wait to hear from you again next week!!!
Love, Holly
ps. Ok, so finally after 6 months, I'm sending pictures! :) Everytime I go to email I always forgot to bring my camera cord. So here are just a couple.
1.Giving the members "a hand" :) All the missionaries that come into that area get their hand on the wall. Pres. and Sis. Pugh's are on there too!
2. Sis. Deal and I at Gettysburg.
3. Sis. Deal, and Amber Mosely who would go tracting with us every now and then in front of 'Dover, Women of Today' :) We thought that was appropriate to take a picture in front of it.
4. Sis. Ferguson and I in Lititz, nearby our apartment
There are just some. I'll send more at another time when I can remember :) Love you all tons! Bye!
Love, Holly
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Week 24- Happy October 1st!!!
October 1, 2009
Hola Famalia!!!!!!
How is everyone doing? It's going pretty good here in Lititz. So last week I told you about meeting Kayla in the park and her praying about meeting people from church. So this is what happened after that. I was trying to call people to get her a ride to church but she lives in another wards boundaries. I tried and tried to get people in my ward to go pick her up but no one was willing to drive an extra 5 miles to get her. Oh my goodness, I was getting so frustrated. I just wanted her to be able to come to church with US and feel the spirit of church again! Well no one was being willing, so I finally gave in. I finally let go of my pride and called people in the other ward boundaries to ask if they could take her. Luckily that was my very first ward out here, so I called a family that I was pretty close with and they were so willing to take her! I got to see Kayla at church for just a couple minutes but she really enjoyed it. The Bode's (the members who took her) called us later Sunday night and left a message. Bro. Bode worried me so bad, he said in his message "Sister LaMont, you need to call me back ASAP. There is an emergency!" Ooooooh scary! I called him back and this was his emergency.......he said "There is a spanish girl in our home that we can't get rid of!" hahaha, he is such a trickster. They had invited her over for dinner and she was with them the rest of the night! I'm so thankful that everything worked out so extremely well! When I just let go of my pride of wanting her with us and handing it over to the ward who really needs to take care of her, it all worked out. The Lord taught me a lesson there. No more poaching from other areas! haha.
Anyway, the rest of the week went really well. We did a sisters exchange yesterday which was a lot of fun. I love doing sisters exchanges and being able to learn from other missionaries. I took one sister, Sister Rogers, with me to an investigator and she was absolutely perfect for her! Molly is afraid to get baptized because she is scared she will fall away afterwards. We've tried to address it, but Sister Rogers did so well with helping her too. It's always good to hear from someone else who you don't work with all the time. So Molly will keep praying about it. :) We have another investigator, Greg, who told us yesterday that he knew the Book of Mormon was true. He wants to come to church soon but says he wants to get cleaned up a little first. He has longer hair and says he wouldn't feel comfortable going until he gets a hair cut and nice clothes. We told him he can come however he can, that it's ok. But if he'd feel more comfortable with that, we won't push him. That's about it for this week though. I hope you are all doing well! I miss you all tons! But love you tons as well!! Have a great week.
Love, Holly
Hola Famalia!!!!!!
How is everyone doing? It's going pretty good here in Lititz. So last week I told you about meeting Kayla in the park and her praying about meeting people from church. So this is what happened after that. I was trying to call people to get her a ride to church but she lives in another wards boundaries. I tried and tried to get people in my ward to go pick her up but no one was willing to drive an extra 5 miles to get her. Oh my goodness, I was getting so frustrated. I just wanted her to be able to come to church with US and feel the spirit of church again! Well no one was being willing, so I finally gave in. I finally let go of my pride and called people in the other ward boundaries to ask if they could take her. Luckily that was my very first ward out here, so I called a family that I was pretty close with and they were so willing to take her! I got to see Kayla at church for just a couple minutes but she really enjoyed it. The Bode's (the members who took her) called us later Sunday night and left a message. Bro. Bode worried me so bad, he said in his message "Sister LaMont, you need to call me back ASAP. There is an emergency!" Ooooooh scary! I called him back and this was his emergency.......he said "There is a spanish girl in our home that we can't get rid of!" hahaha, he is such a trickster. They had invited her over for dinner and she was with them the rest of the night! I'm so thankful that everything worked out so extremely well! When I just let go of my pride of wanting her with us and handing it over to the ward who really needs to take care of her, it all worked out. The Lord taught me a lesson there. No more poaching from other areas! haha.
Anyway, the rest of the week went really well. We did a sisters exchange yesterday which was a lot of fun. I love doing sisters exchanges and being able to learn from other missionaries. I took one sister, Sister Rogers, with me to an investigator and she was absolutely perfect for her! Molly is afraid to get baptized because she is scared she will fall away afterwards. We've tried to address it, but Sister Rogers did so well with helping her too. It's always good to hear from someone else who you don't work with all the time. So Molly will keep praying about it. :) We have another investigator, Greg, who told us yesterday that he knew the Book of Mormon was true. He wants to come to church soon but says he wants to get cleaned up a little first. He has longer hair and says he wouldn't feel comfortable going until he gets a hair cut and nice clothes. We told him he can come however he can, that it's ok. But if he'd feel more comfortable with that, we won't push him. That's about it for this week though. I hope you are all doing well! I miss you all tons! But love you tons as well!! Have a great week.
Love, Holly
Week 23- Amazing Experience
September 24, 2009
I'm going to start out with the most AMAZING experience I've had on my mission so far. On Tuesday, Sis. Ferguson and I were street contacting on the main street in Lititz and absolutely nobody was giving us the time of day. Not to mention no one was being nice to us! I was getting so frustrated and steamed up that I told Sister Ferguson we needed to go do something else.....lets go tract or something. She said, 'well lets go try contacting in the park.' So we walked over to the park and the first lady we saw was sitting on a bench so we talked to her. She then became a new investigator :) Then (here's where the amazing experience comes in) we saw a group of 3 girls feeding ducks by the river. We went over to go talk to them and found out that one is from Germany and one is from Venezuela. They are here on some kind of program where if they do babysitting jobs for a year, then they get their visa. As we were talking to them, the girl from Venezuela (Kayla) seemed to be really interested in what we were saying. Sister Ferguson speaks spanish so she started talking to her in spanish and pulled out a letter that her mom had written for her to read to investigators about the church. As she was reading it, Kayla suddenly said "That's my church!!!" She said that she has been less-active for a couple years but she has been feeling pretty alone up here in America with no one around her that she really knows. Just the day before she was thinking that she needed to go to church and she was praying to meet someone from church so she could go!!! AMAZING HUH????? I love it! I got such goosebumps when she told us that! I love when you get to see cool experiences when you are being an instrument in the Lord's hands. It made so much sense now why people were not giving us the time of day on the street! We needed to be over in the park to see Kayla! And she is coming to church on Sunday :) Another cool thing is that she is living in a city called Manheim which is probably about a 15 minute drive away and out of our area. So for her to just happen to be in Lititz is such a miracle too. I love it! Kayla is awesome! She is moving to Utah to live with her sister in a month (who is a member as well) so she'll come to church with us until then. :)
Well, that was the coolest experience. We also had stake conference this past weekend. They re-organized the stake presidency so a couple general authorities came. Elder Kenneth Johnson was one of them. He is so cool. And he has a british accent so it was fun to listen to him speak. He actually said he was just in Meridian a few weeks ago to re-organize the Meridian stake. He is such an inspiring man though. We got to shake his hand after stake conference and the first thing he said to all the missionaries was "let me see your planner!" hahaha, he was telling us that whenever we make goals, we HAVE to make a plan to reach that goal. That's how we show the Lord our faith in Him. True.
Anyway, I'd tell you more of what he was saying but I'm running out of time! I'll write it in a letter or something because he was a very good, inspiring speaker. Have a great week and I want to hear from everyone next week!!! Love you all and miss you all tons!
Love, Holly
I'm going to start out with the most AMAZING experience I've had on my mission so far. On Tuesday, Sis. Ferguson and I were street contacting on the main street in Lititz and absolutely nobody was giving us the time of day. Not to mention no one was being nice to us! I was getting so frustrated and steamed up that I told Sister Ferguson we needed to go do something else.....lets go tract or something. She said, 'well lets go try contacting in the park.' So we walked over to the park and the first lady we saw was sitting on a bench so we talked to her. She then became a new investigator :) Then (here's where the amazing experience comes in) we saw a group of 3 girls feeding ducks by the river. We went over to go talk to them and found out that one is from Germany and one is from Venezuela. They are here on some kind of program where if they do babysitting jobs for a year, then they get their visa. As we were talking to them, the girl from Venezuela (Kayla) seemed to be really interested in what we were saying. Sister Ferguson speaks spanish so she started talking to her in spanish and pulled out a letter that her mom had written for her to read to investigators about the church. As she was reading it, Kayla suddenly said "That's my church!!!" She said that she has been less-active for a couple years but she has been feeling pretty alone up here in America with no one around her that she really knows. Just the day before she was thinking that she needed to go to church and she was praying to meet someone from church so she could go!!! AMAZING HUH????? I love it! I got such goosebumps when she told us that! I love when you get to see cool experiences when you are being an instrument in the Lord's hands. It made so much sense now why people were not giving us the time of day on the street! We needed to be over in the park to see Kayla! And she is coming to church on Sunday :) Another cool thing is that she is living in a city called Manheim which is probably about a 15 minute drive away and out of our area. So for her to just happen to be in Lititz is such a miracle too. I love it! Kayla is awesome! She is moving to Utah to live with her sister in a month (who is a member as well) so she'll come to church with us until then. :)
Well, that was the coolest experience. We also had stake conference this past weekend. They re-organized the stake presidency so a couple general authorities came. Elder Kenneth Johnson was one of them. He is so cool. And he has a british accent so it was fun to listen to him speak. He actually said he was just in Meridian a few weeks ago to re-organize the Meridian stake. He is such an inspiring man though. We got to shake his hand after stake conference and the first thing he said to all the missionaries was "let me see your planner!" hahaha, he was telling us that whenever we make goals, we HAVE to make a plan to reach that goal. That's how we show the Lord our faith in Him. True.
Anyway, I'd tell you more of what he was saying but I'm running out of time! I'll write it in a letter or something because he was a very good, inspiring speaker. Have a great week and I want to hear from everyone next week!!! Love you all and miss you all tons!
Love, Holly
Week 22- Just Another Week
September 17, 2009
Hey Youz Guyz (You'zins)
Just a little Pennsyvlania language :) Well another week has come and gone. The weather has definitely become fall!!! It is starting to get a lot cooler and although the leaves on trees have been changing for weeks now, they are finally starting to fall down. I ran through a huge pile of leaves yesterday while we were out and about :) So here is just a small update of what has happened this week:
*Molly came to church again this week. We also had a cottage meeting on Sunday night that she went to, as well as a family home evening on Monday night. We visited with her on Tuesday and asked about how she liked church and everything and if she's been praying about baptism...like we committed her to do. She said she really enjoys church and she loves the people. She is just scared that if she gets baptized, she might not do the whole 'endure to the end' part and become less-active. We tried to help those concerns, told her that we live each day at a time trying to do our best with what the Lord wants us to do, but if she accidently slip, that's what the atonement is for. We can repent and get back on that path. She promised to continue praying about it and she is coming to the saturday and sunday sessions of our stake conference this sunday.
*We met with a less-active family, the Rodriguez's. They are so sweet and fun! Sister Rodriguez made us an authentic hispanic dinner. Ooooh my it was so good! Brother Rodriguez actually comes to church more often then not, but his wife hasn't been there for a really long time! She mentioned to us that she wants us to start the lessons with her so she can get a refresher! Awesome! Now just church :)
*Last but not least, I met a family that missionaries have been teaching for quite a while now! The Canalis family. (I think Elder Howard actually found them) She is catholic and he is a jehovah's witness. Well, I wanted to get to know them a little and find out withat their thoughts were about the Book of Mormon and the gospel. She knows it is all true but says she's not willing to get baptized and he still doesn't believe it's true and won't pray about it. Rough right? They got in a big argument when I was there too......yikes. So I'm not too sure what is really going to happen with them. Pray for them, k?
Well that's about all the updates for this week. I hope all is well at home and I hope you all have a great week! I love you all!
Love, Holly
Hey Youz Guyz (You'zins)
Just a little Pennsyvlania language :) Well another week has come and gone. The weather has definitely become fall!!! It is starting to get a lot cooler and although the leaves on trees have been changing for weeks now, they are finally starting to fall down. I ran through a huge pile of leaves yesterday while we were out and about :) So here is just a small update of what has happened this week:
*Molly came to church again this week. We also had a cottage meeting on Sunday night that she went to, as well as a family home evening on Monday night. We visited with her on Tuesday and asked about how she liked church and everything and if she's been praying about baptism...like we committed her to do. She said she really enjoys church and she loves the people. She is just scared that if she gets baptized, she might not do the whole 'endure to the end' part and become less-active. We tried to help those concerns, told her that we live each day at a time trying to do our best with what the Lord wants us to do, but if she accidently slip, that's what the atonement is for. We can repent and get back on that path. She promised to continue praying about it and she is coming to the saturday and sunday sessions of our stake conference this sunday.
*We met with a less-active family, the Rodriguez's. They are so sweet and fun! Sister Rodriguez made us an authentic hispanic dinner. Ooooh my it was so good! Brother Rodriguez actually comes to church more often then not, but his wife hasn't been there for a really long time! She mentioned to us that she wants us to start the lessons with her so she can get a refresher! Awesome! Now just church :)
*Last but not least, I met a family that missionaries have been teaching for quite a while now! The Canalis family. (I think Elder Howard actually found them) She is catholic and he is a jehovah's witness. Well, I wanted to get to know them a little and find out withat their thoughts were about the Book of Mormon and the gospel. She knows it is all true but says she's not willing to get baptized and he still doesn't believe it's true and won't pray about it. Rough right? They got in a big argument when I was there too......yikes. So I'm not too sure what is really going to happen with them. Pray for them, k?
Well that's about all the updates for this week. I hope all is well at home and I hope you all have a great week! I love you all!
Love, Holly
Week 21- Transfer #4, Lititz PA
September 10, 2009
Good Morning!
Well, as you can probably tell from the subject of my email, we had transfers on Tuesday and I got moved to a new area with a new companion! I am in Lititz.....which is back in Lancaster County! hahahaha, it actually borders my old area of Elizabethtown. And I get to see the Amish people again. I also get to go back to the church building I was in and see my old ward from E-town. Exciting huh? My new companion is Sister Ferguson. She is from New Mexico and she's been out for just a little over a year now. Things have been pretty good so far. I've only had one whole day here but the first appointment we had was with an investigator named Molly. She's been taught a couple lessons and the last time she got visited, they asked her to pray about a baptism date. So when we went in on Wednesday, we taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, holy ghost, enduring) and asked her to pray specifically for October 10th for baptism. She said she would pray about it. She went to church last week and she loved it and plans to go again this week! Yay. I'm excited for her. So it looks like there is a lot going on here and a lot to look forward to.
So about my old area in Dover......Sister Deal and I actually both got kicked out!! Elders came in to white wash it and take over our investigators. It makes me a little jealous that they get to finish up working with Cody and get him ready for his baptism. But I am close enough to that area that I think President will let me go when he gets baptized! I sure hope so, because he is our golden investigator and I want to see him make that step and that commitment!
I have to tell you of a tender moment we had right before we left Dover. When we found out Sister Deal and I were both leaving, our ward mission leader (the Shoemaker's) invited us over for dinner. We would go over every wednesday to have dinner and correlation with them, they would take us to church every week, and we would do laundry at their house on P-day, so we got very close with them. Well at dinner before we left, the whole family went around and bore their testimonies to us about the gospel and about missionary work and how they really enjoyed having us there. And about how we've made a big impact in their lives. It was so sweet and so heart-felt. We were all in tears by the time we left! I always told Sister Deal that the Shoemaker's were like my family, a home away from home. But it never really hits you until you have to leave. I am going to miss them a lot, but they promised to come see me before I finished my mission to go home! They are the best!! You have to wonder why sisters got white-washed in for only 3 months before elders came back in to take over again. I am convinced we were needed there for one specific reason and we had accomplished that. I don't know what it was but that place will always be close to my heart! That ward was the best too!
Well this is a long email! I hope I didn't bore anyone to death! But I hope all is well at home and things are going great! I love you and miss you and can't wait to hear from you all next week!
Love, Holly
Good Morning!
Well, as you can probably tell from the subject of my email, we had transfers on Tuesday and I got moved to a new area with a new companion! I am in Lititz.....which is back in Lancaster County! hahahaha, it actually borders my old area of Elizabethtown. And I get to see the Amish people again. I also get to go back to the church building I was in and see my old ward from E-town. Exciting huh? My new companion is Sister Ferguson. She is from New Mexico and she's been out for just a little over a year now. Things have been pretty good so far. I've only had one whole day here but the first appointment we had was with an investigator named Molly. She's been taught a couple lessons and the last time she got visited, they asked her to pray about a baptism date. So when we went in on Wednesday, we taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, holy ghost, enduring) and asked her to pray specifically for October 10th for baptism. She said she would pray about it. She went to church last week and she loved it and plans to go again this week! Yay. I'm excited for her. So it looks like there is a lot going on here and a lot to look forward to.
So about my old area in Dover......Sister Deal and I actually both got kicked out!! Elders came in to white wash it and take over our investigators. It makes me a little jealous that they get to finish up working with Cody and get him ready for his baptism. But I am close enough to that area that I think President will let me go when he gets baptized! I sure hope so, because he is our golden investigator and I want to see him make that step and that commitment!
I have to tell you of a tender moment we had right before we left Dover. When we found out Sister Deal and I were both leaving, our ward mission leader (the Shoemaker's) invited us over for dinner. We would go over every wednesday to have dinner and correlation with them, they would take us to church every week, and we would do laundry at their house on P-day, so we got very close with them. Well at dinner before we left, the whole family went around and bore their testimonies to us about the gospel and about missionary work and how they really enjoyed having us there. And about how we've made a big impact in their lives. It was so sweet and so heart-felt. We were all in tears by the time we left! I always told Sister Deal that the Shoemaker's were like my family, a home away from home. But it never really hits you until you have to leave. I am going to miss them a lot, but they promised to come see me before I finished my mission to go home! They are the best!! You have to wonder why sisters got white-washed in for only 3 months before elders came back in to take over again. I am convinced we were needed there for one specific reason and we had accomplished that. I don't know what it was but that place will always be close to my heart! That ward was the best too!
Well this is a long email! I hope I didn't bore anyone to death! But I hope all is well at home and things are going great! I love you and miss you and can't wait to hear from you all next week!
Love, Holly
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