May 17, 2010
Hi my loved ones!
It's been another wonderful week out here in Pennsylvania! We got to see a lot of amazing miracles that I can't wait to tell you all about! But I guess I have to start from the very beginning. Sister Droge went back to temple square on Tuesday.....it was probably the most saddened I have been to be separated from a companion my whole mission! She's seriously been one of my absolute favorites! I'm glad I got the opportunity to serve with her here though. But Sister Dewey is here to replace her and it has been so much fun! Sister Dewey is so full of faith and hope and she is stinkin hilarious so every day is a party for us. Let me tell you some of the miracles we have been able to see. First of all, we had a first appointment with a less-active girl named Heather who accepted us to come back and teach her all the missionary lessons. She's so sweet. So that is miracle #1. Miracle #2 is on Thursday, we had an appointment with Bryan and he accidently locked his keys in his car. So we were all trying to help break into his car with wire hangers and bobby pins and everything (it probably looked a little sketchy to see missionaries trying to break into a car....woops) but this girl named Bridgette who lives close by saw us struggling and came down and offered to call AAA for us to come unlock the car for him. It was so sweet of her. She sat and talked with us until they came and we were able to set up an appointment with her. We had the appointment the very next day and unfortunately she didn't want to learn more, but she said that she wants us to invite her to different activities and everything. So hopefully if we keep inviting her to different church things, she'll become a little more interested. Miracle #3, we got a new chinese investigator named Yandong who is really cool and asks the most perfect questions and is really interested. He even came to see a baptism that was going on yesterday and had tons of questions about that too. They say a certain percentage of people who see baptisms end up being baptized, so we'll see! We are praying for him! Miracle #4, an investigator we worked with a couple months ago randomly showed up to institute on Friday night and we were able to get another appointment with him! Yay! Miracle #5, as we were out contacting on Saturday we talked to this kid named Fred. We introduced ourselves and started talking to him for a little bit, he told us that he was actually swithching from one church to another, but kept walking. So we handed him a pass-along card with the mormon.org website on it and he looked at it and said "hey, this is the church I'm thinking about switching to." haha, cool huh? He knows a member of our ward who invited him to come so we should be seeing him at church next week :) Miracle #6, we contacted another less-active girl that we have been trying to contact for weeks and she invited us right up to talk with her for a little bit and gave us her phone number so we can call her. She's super sweet and probably one of the better first contacts I have ever made with a less-active who hasn't had contact in a really long time. Miracle #7, an older lady that we have been working with, Rose, said that she would pray about being baptized. She worked with sisters years ago but they had to drop her. As we have been visiting her now, she seems a lot more prepared. We taught the plan of salvation and asked her what she thinks of all of it. She said she loves it and loves our church but that she's already been baptized and doesn't want to be again. Easy concern to fix.....Sister Dewey just plainly said, "Rose, I know you love the Lord and will do what He tells us. If he told you to be baptized into this church, would you do it?" And of course she said yes. Yay for progression. Miracle #8 and probably the biggest miracle of the week.........the elders brought a young man, named Mario, to church for us who has read all about the church and is completely soaking it in. Right after sacrament meeting, he plainly just asked us "when can I get baptized?" hahahaha, cooooool! They only had one meeting with him and this is the first time we have even met him. So he is set to be baptized on May 30th. :) I love it, miracles really do come! We've been praying soo soo soo hard, especially this week to see so many miracles and the Lord has blessed us tremendously! We have been fasting a lot, the ward has been fasting in the ward 40 day fast and miracles have abounded. I feel so blessed. Yesterday, we were fasting for gratitute for what the Lord has given us and he blessed us even more! I am forever in debt to all he does. I feel like I should fast for gratitude again, haha. But I know I can't starve myself all the time!
So as you can see, it was a GREAT week. And great things to come too! Please keep praying that we'll be able to help lots of people and see a lot of success. I love this work and am so grateful to be a part of it! I love you guys all so much! Have a fantastic week! Stay strong and work hard! LOVE YA!
Love, Holly
Sunday, May 30, 2010
week 55- 6 days till I talk to you!
May 3, 2010
Hi again!
How is everyone doing? I'm doing pretty well here! This week was not very eventful, more no-show appointments, but again that's missionary work! But we did have a couple of amazing things happen this week, let me tell you ALLLLLL about it! :)
First of all, I don't remember if I told you about Urie. He showed up to church two weeks in a row so we got an appointment with him last week. We met with him on Tuesday and asked how he had heard about the church and what made him want to come. He said he had met sisters about a year ago or so and they gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon. He hadn't really read it, just flipped through some of the pages but he read a lot online. And on good sites too. We asked him what he knew about the restoration and this is basically what he said, "Not a whole lot, but I do know....." and then he went off on Joseph Smith's story and the first vision and the gold plates and how Joseph translated him. He even talked about how he knows about all the anti stuff that the church faces but this is what he said about that "That's what the ingorant people think" hahaha, he is SOOOOO cool! So we set him with a baptism date :) He's getting baptized on May 29. Unfortunately though, he was going to the University of Pitt and they are done for the school year so he's moving home (another part of Pennsylvania) for the summer. But we told him to meet up with the elders there and continue meeting with them. We also called the elders who are in his hometown and gave them an AMAZING REFERREL!!!!!! How often do we get referrels from other missionaries that have baptism dates? Never!!!! So they were pretty stoked. I hope everything works out beautifully and he does get baptized on May 29.
Another cool thing!!!! Erin Jonas came up to me after Relief Society yesterday and had some amazing news!!! She had just talked to her mom, and I guess her mom had been having a bit of a hard day. So Erin shared some scriptures from the Book of Mormon with her mom and she said that she didn't yell at her for that! I guess her mom said, "although I don't agree with those scriptures, thank you anyway" or something to that effect. Cool huh??? Her mom's heart is slowly, very slowly, becoming softened. One small step at a time, but it will happen! :) Erin is so awesome and so strong! She seriously is such an inspiration!
We also had interviews this week. Yay for interviews! We talked a bit about my schooling for when I go home. So I'm still trying to figure all that stuff out. It's stressful and I wish I didn't have to do it. But if I don't, I know I'll never get around to doing it once I'm home. It didn't happen before my mission! haha. Might as well do it while I'm still motivated :) I also mentioned to President how I would absolutely LOVE to serve in Hershey with a sister named Sister Dewey next transfer, haha. It's Sister Dewey's last transfer and I have always wanted to serve with her!!! I love that girl so much, she reminds me of Krista a lot :) So he said he'd consider it. So I may be going to Hershey next transfer??? Who knows, but that would be awesome!!! Eastern Pennsylvania feels like home to me :)
Alrighty, well I'll be done now. I'll save more news for you when I talk to you on SUNDAY!!!!!!!! I can't wait! I love my family!!!!!! Oh, and I'll probably be calling at about 5:30 your time. So be ready to have lots to talk about and good laughs! :) Have a good week and mom, have a happy happy mothers day!!!! Love you all!
Love, Holly
Hi again!
How is everyone doing? I'm doing pretty well here! This week was not very eventful, more no-show appointments, but again that's missionary work! But we did have a couple of amazing things happen this week, let me tell you ALLLLLL about it! :)
First of all, I don't remember if I told you about Urie. He showed up to church two weeks in a row so we got an appointment with him last week. We met with him on Tuesday and asked how he had heard about the church and what made him want to come. He said he had met sisters about a year ago or so and they gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon. He hadn't really read it, just flipped through some of the pages but he read a lot online. And on good sites too. We asked him what he knew about the restoration and this is basically what he said, "Not a whole lot, but I do know....." and then he went off on Joseph Smith's story and the first vision and the gold plates and how Joseph translated him. He even talked about how he knows about all the anti stuff that the church faces but this is what he said about that "That's what the ingorant people think" hahaha, he is SOOOOO cool! So we set him with a baptism date :) He's getting baptized on May 29. Unfortunately though, he was going to the University of Pitt and they are done for the school year so he's moving home (another part of Pennsylvania) for the summer. But we told him to meet up with the elders there and continue meeting with them. We also called the elders who are in his hometown and gave them an AMAZING REFERREL!!!!!! How often do we get referrels from other missionaries that have baptism dates? Never!!!! So they were pretty stoked. I hope everything works out beautifully and he does get baptized on May 29.
Another cool thing!!!! Erin Jonas came up to me after Relief Society yesterday and had some amazing news!!! She had just talked to her mom, and I guess her mom had been having a bit of a hard day. So Erin shared some scriptures from the Book of Mormon with her mom and she said that she didn't yell at her for that! I guess her mom said, "although I don't agree with those scriptures, thank you anyway" or something to that effect. Cool huh??? Her mom's heart is slowly, very slowly, becoming softened. One small step at a time, but it will happen! :) Erin is so awesome and so strong! She seriously is such an inspiration!
We also had interviews this week. Yay for interviews! We talked a bit about my schooling for when I go home. So I'm still trying to figure all that stuff out. It's stressful and I wish I didn't have to do it. But if I don't, I know I'll never get around to doing it once I'm home. It didn't happen before my mission! haha. Might as well do it while I'm still motivated :) I also mentioned to President how I would absolutely LOVE to serve in Hershey with a sister named Sister Dewey next transfer, haha. It's Sister Dewey's last transfer and I have always wanted to serve with her!!! I love that girl so much, she reminds me of Krista a lot :) So he said he'd consider it. So I may be going to Hershey next transfer??? Who knows, but that would be awesome!!! Eastern Pennsylvania feels like home to me :)
Alrighty, well I'll be done now. I'll save more news for you when I talk to you on SUNDAY!!!!!!!! I can't wait! I love my family!!!!!! Oh, and I'll probably be calling at about 5:30 your time. So be ready to have lots to talk about and good laughs! :) Have a good week and mom, have a happy happy mothers day!!!! Love you all!
Love, Holly
Week 54- It's a hard knock life for us.
April 26, 2010
Hellooooo!
How is everyone doing? It's all going pretty good here, but let me tell you about our crazy, crazy week! I think it just gets crazier every week I am here! hahaha. I told you about all those new investigators we found last week, well, none of them came to their appointments this week. We had found a lot of new potential investigators too, but again, they didn't come to their appointments. Kind of depressing! But here is the reason why.....it was finals week. Everybody was super busy and super crazy! It was even hard trying to get members coming to our appointments because they all had to do finals as well. We had to get older women from the family wards to come to our appointments.....which ended up with the investigators not showing up. So it was pretty hard and Sister Anderson hasn't had a week like this yet, so she was like "what the heck is going on? Is the mission always like this???" hahaha, poor girl. She has to experience it sometime I guess. But despite the rough, rough week with almost no appointments, we had an AMAZING Sunday!!! People showed up at church that we were not expecting at all! Just comes to show that when you work hard and remain diligent and faithful throughout the harder times, the Lord blesses you with wonderful things! It's always worth it. So this boy, Urie, randomly came to church. He actually came last week too and Sister Droge talked to him and I guess she thought he was a member who was visiting. But he came again yesterday and this time Sister Anderson talked to him and found out that really, he wasn't a member. So she set up an appointment with him AND invited him to stay all 3 hours of church, and he did. Pretty cool blessing! Plus, a member brought her boyfriend who is interested in learning more and some less-actives came as well. So it was a good way to finish off the week.
Last night, we were also invited to come to one of the counselor in the bishopric's home for dinner and a meeting. He invited us and all the ward missionaries and ward mission leader, as well as the stake president and his wife. We brainstormed and we talked about different-out of the box- finding ideas we could do for the summer. Since the majority of the students are going to be leaving for the summer and there won't be as much to do, he wanted to find a way to keep the missionary work alive. It was so good to get everyone's insights and ideas and even helped the ward missionaries see how important missionary work is and how they need to invite their friends. :) AND, I've had this great idea brewing in my head for a little while that I shared with the stake president. The idea is to get Gladys Knight here to sing and invite tons and tons of members and non members :) Maybe it sounds a little crazy, but he actually really really liked it! So he's going to work on it. I think it takes a while before she'd actually make it here, so I'd probably be out of the area, but still. Someone could benefit! One other cool idea we are doing for the month of may is having a 40 day fast for missionary work within the ward. Every day for 40 days, someone will be fasting, so it will be a continuous thing. Sounds pretty cool, huh? I'm excited to get this rolling, and the ward members seem pretty excited about it.
One last thing, we met with Erin yesterday after church and I decided, well we all decided, that something AMAZING is going to happen. That is why she has to be patient for so long before she can be baptized. I don't know what it is, but something really good. There has to be a huge blessing for her to be so patient! So we'll all have to be patient with her because we have no idea what the Lord has in store for her and her family.
I hope you all have a fabulous week and guess what? I get to talk to you pretty soon! :) Love you and miss you lots! Have a great day!
Love, Holly
Hellooooo!
How is everyone doing? It's all going pretty good here, but let me tell you about our crazy, crazy week! I think it just gets crazier every week I am here! hahaha. I told you about all those new investigators we found last week, well, none of them came to their appointments this week. We had found a lot of new potential investigators too, but again, they didn't come to their appointments. Kind of depressing! But here is the reason why.....it was finals week. Everybody was super busy and super crazy! It was even hard trying to get members coming to our appointments because they all had to do finals as well. We had to get older women from the family wards to come to our appointments.....which ended up with the investigators not showing up. So it was pretty hard and Sister Anderson hasn't had a week like this yet, so she was like "what the heck is going on? Is the mission always like this???" hahaha, poor girl. She has to experience it sometime I guess. But despite the rough, rough week with almost no appointments, we had an AMAZING Sunday!!! People showed up at church that we were not expecting at all! Just comes to show that when you work hard and remain diligent and faithful throughout the harder times, the Lord blesses you with wonderful things! It's always worth it. So this boy, Urie, randomly came to church. He actually came last week too and Sister Droge talked to him and I guess she thought he was a member who was visiting. But he came again yesterday and this time Sister Anderson talked to him and found out that really, he wasn't a member. So she set up an appointment with him AND invited him to stay all 3 hours of church, and he did. Pretty cool blessing! Plus, a member brought her boyfriend who is interested in learning more and some less-actives came as well. So it was a good way to finish off the week.
Last night, we were also invited to come to one of the counselor in the bishopric's home for dinner and a meeting. He invited us and all the ward missionaries and ward mission leader, as well as the stake president and his wife. We brainstormed and we talked about different-out of the box- finding ideas we could do for the summer. Since the majority of the students are going to be leaving for the summer and there won't be as much to do, he wanted to find a way to keep the missionary work alive. It was so good to get everyone's insights and ideas and even helped the ward missionaries see how important missionary work is and how they need to invite their friends. :) AND, I've had this great idea brewing in my head for a little while that I shared with the stake president. The idea is to get Gladys Knight here to sing and invite tons and tons of members and non members :) Maybe it sounds a little crazy, but he actually really really liked it! So he's going to work on it. I think it takes a while before she'd actually make it here, so I'd probably be out of the area, but still. Someone could benefit! One other cool idea we are doing for the month of may is having a 40 day fast for missionary work within the ward. Every day for 40 days, someone will be fasting, so it will be a continuous thing. Sounds pretty cool, huh? I'm excited to get this rolling, and the ward members seem pretty excited about it.
One last thing, we met with Erin yesterday after church and I decided, well we all decided, that something AMAZING is going to happen. That is why she has to be patient for so long before she can be baptized. I don't know what it is, but something really good. There has to be a huge blessing for her to be so patient! So we'll all have to be patient with her because we have no idea what the Lord has in store for her and her family.
I hope you all have a fabulous week and guess what? I get to talk to you pretty soon! :) Love you and miss you lots! Have a great day!
Love, Holly
Monday, April 19, 2010
week 53 - Hallooo
April 19, 2010
Hi my wonderful family!
It has been a week full of craziness and business!! haha, I'm tired! But we had some pretty cool things happen this week. Like I told you before, we were struggling finding new people to teach last transfer and I was afraid once our current investigators were baptized, we would have no one to teach. Well, we had a miracle week! I love having Sister Anderson here! We got many new investigators, ones who seem pretty solid too. This one girl we met named Alex is super awesome! She's from Alabama and she is just the sweetest girl in the world. She loved hearing about the first vision and is excited to read the Book of Mormon. We'll be meeting with her again this week :) We also met a few men who seem pretty interested in learning more, they are at a point in there life where they are searching and trying to find out what they truly believe. I'm glad the Lord led us to these people! Hopefully we can find more amazing people who are ready this week.
We had another zone conference this week, those are my favorite times of the transfer! I love zone conference! So our mission is getting pretty young now! Just this year, we've probably gotten 50 or more brand new missionaries, which makes it almost half of us. Plus, a lot of missionaries will be going home this summer. Sooo, our zone conference was all about being prepared to take on leadership positions and getting these newer missionaries prepared to be trainers and district leaders and zone leaders early on in their missions. They all seem like a pretty prepared bunch of missionaries too.
We also had a pretty cool thing happen last night. This lady named Rose called us up randomly and invited us over to her house. She had visited with the sister missionaries like 4 years ago. She enjoyed the visits and came to church a couple times but liked her church too much so the sisters had to drop her. Well, a few weeks ago, she ran into some of the elders and she asked them for the sisters phone number. We went over there and she wants to meet with us again! I'm not sure how interested she really is in learning about the gospel but she had her 18 year old son sit in with us :) So we set up another time to visit with both of them so we could teach him more about the church. yay! Cool and amazing things always happen with a little faith, hard work, and diligence. I truly feel blessed in this area right now. It was pretty rough when I first got to the city, but I am so thankful for all the wonderful miracles we have seen here!!! I was reading in Alma this morning when Alma goes and teaches the people in Zarahemla, then Gideon, then Melek, then Ammonihah. I was just noticing all the differences with the people in the different areas and the different trials that he went through and different situations and ways he had to teach them. We all know Ammonihah was pretty rough for him, but he was so blessed with the people in Melek who wanted to hear the word. And that's the way missionary work goes. Some areas are great and we see many miracles and others are so hard that you want to just walk away. But faith and diligence and hope make everything worth it! Alma was led back to Ammonihah where he was blessed with his companion, Amulek. I dont' know if that makes as much sense to you guys as it did to me this morning, but I really liked it. Well I hope you are all having a great spring and I'd love to hear of any stories you have had lately where you have gotten to share the gospel with someone. Have a wonderful week! I love you all!!!!! Miss you!
Love, Holly
Hi my wonderful family!
It has been a week full of craziness and business!! haha, I'm tired! But we had some pretty cool things happen this week. Like I told you before, we were struggling finding new people to teach last transfer and I was afraid once our current investigators were baptized, we would have no one to teach. Well, we had a miracle week! I love having Sister Anderson here! We got many new investigators, ones who seem pretty solid too. This one girl we met named Alex is super awesome! She's from Alabama and she is just the sweetest girl in the world. She loved hearing about the first vision and is excited to read the Book of Mormon. We'll be meeting with her again this week :) We also met a few men who seem pretty interested in learning more, they are at a point in there life where they are searching and trying to find out what they truly believe. I'm glad the Lord led us to these people! Hopefully we can find more amazing people who are ready this week.
We had another zone conference this week, those are my favorite times of the transfer! I love zone conference! So our mission is getting pretty young now! Just this year, we've probably gotten 50 or more brand new missionaries, which makes it almost half of us. Plus, a lot of missionaries will be going home this summer. Sooo, our zone conference was all about being prepared to take on leadership positions and getting these newer missionaries prepared to be trainers and district leaders and zone leaders early on in their missions. They all seem like a pretty prepared bunch of missionaries too.
We also had a pretty cool thing happen last night. This lady named Rose called us up randomly and invited us over to her house. She had visited with the sister missionaries like 4 years ago. She enjoyed the visits and came to church a couple times but liked her church too much so the sisters had to drop her. Well, a few weeks ago, she ran into some of the elders and she asked them for the sisters phone number. We went over there and she wants to meet with us again! I'm not sure how interested she really is in learning about the gospel but she had her 18 year old son sit in with us :) So we set up another time to visit with both of them so we could teach him more about the church. yay! Cool and amazing things always happen with a little faith, hard work, and diligence. I truly feel blessed in this area right now. It was pretty rough when I first got to the city, but I am so thankful for all the wonderful miracles we have seen here!!! I was reading in Alma this morning when Alma goes and teaches the people in Zarahemla, then Gideon, then Melek, then Ammonihah. I was just noticing all the differences with the people in the different areas and the different trials that he went through and different situations and ways he had to teach them. We all know Ammonihah was pretty rough for him, but he was so blessed with the people in Melek who wanted to hear the word. And that's the way missionary work goes. Some areas are great and we see many miracles and others are so hard that you want to just walk away. But faith and diligence and hope make everything worth it! Alma was led back to Ammonihah where he was blessed with his companion, Amulek. I dont' know if that makes as much sense to you guys as it did to me this morning, but I really liked it. Well I hope you are all having a great spring and I'd love to hear of any stories you have had lately where you have gotten to share the gospel with someone. Have a wonderful week! I love you all!!!!! Miss you!
Love, Holly
Sunday, April 18, 2010
PICTURES
Here are some pictures for you to enjoy!
1. An elder that was in my district, Elder Landires. He reminds me of Jorge and looks like him a little bit. He's from Ecuador.
2. A boy that we are working with, Bryan Rae. He reminds me of Ryan :) Their personalities are so similar!!
3. Our easter fun :) We went frog-hunting with all the kids
4. My companions now! Sister Droge and Sister Anderson (she's the tall one)
Have a great week everyone!!!! Love you!!
Love, Holly
1. An elder that was in my district, Elder Landires. He reminds me of Jorge and looks like him a little bit. He's from Ecuador.
2. A boy that we are working with, Bryan Rae. He reminds me of Ryan :) Their personalities are so similar!!
3. Our easter fun :) We went frog-hunting with all the kids
4. My companions now! Sister Droge and Sister Anderson (she's the tall one)
Have a great week everyone!!!! Love you!!
Love, Holly
week 52 - I love my companions!
April 12, 2010
Hi Everyone!
Wow, what I crazy week has been!!!! Let me tell you all about how training is........it's a bit stressful! haha. I feel more tired then I probably have my whole mission! Except for maybe when I first came out. Well let me tell you a little bit about my greenie, her name is Sister Anderson and she is from Salem, Utah. And she is absolutely AMAZING!!!! The first day, we went back to the apartment after transfer meeting so she could drop her things off, we talked about the lessons we were going to do and roleplayed a little bit then she was ready to go! She didn't even want to unpack her things first! She was like "Ya! Let's go street contacting!" hahaha, she stopped the first person we saw, and he was quite a bit awkward and just walked away, but it was good for her. It was good that she jumped right into it! She has just been on fire. And it's sooo true when they say that greenies have a fire they bring with them! So many miracles have happened since she came. First, Pritish's baptism was on Saturday. It was such a wonderful baptism service! President Summerhays was able to come and share their testimony with him, and after we said the closing prayer, Pritish even got up himself to thank everyone for coming and thank everyone for their prayers for him. It was so tender! And his confirmation was great too! I'm so excited for him and his new journey.
One thing I was worried about though, once Pritish is baptized, we have Erin as an investigator (which she is still doing amazing! Erin, if you are reading this, you are stinkin awesome!!) but other then that, our teaching pool is not very much. We really struggled last transfer trying to find new investigators. BUT, here comes that greenie fire again, we have been able to gain a pretty strong potential investigator pool. We found a chinese boy early last week who set an appointment with us and when he came, he brought a friend with him. So we got two new investigators and they seem pretty cool! We'll see them again next week. Last night, we had a pretty cool miracle too. We had an appointment fall through and I was kind of bummed out because I didn't want to street contact all night for 3 hours. But we went for it anyway and as we were walking we stopped and talked to this guy and girl, the guy immediately was like "oh, you want to talk about Jesus? Ok, let's go sit down!" hahaha, it kind of took us by surprise. He is a nice guy and he wasn't really too serious about it, but he likes to have discussions. But his girlfriend, we believe, was the one who really needed the message. When we started sharing the message of the restoration, she started crying. She told us about some experiences that she has been going through lately and how she's really been needing to find God and feel his love. We really had a great, spur of the moment, lesson with them. They said they are very weary about mormons so they didn't want to set up another time as of yet, but we talked about priesthood blessings and she really wants one to help her out. They also seemed pretty interested in prophets and apostles, so they said they would check out general conference online. I gave them our number, so hopefully she'll want to give us a call soon! It was a great experience, and now of course I understand the reason of why we needed to be in that place at that time. Even if she doesn't become an investigator, that's really what she needed right then. Such tender mercies!
Anyway, sorry I went on and on again about stuff. But missionary work is great. I love you all and I hope you have an amazing week! Guess what, it's almost time to talk to you on the phone again! Time just flies by so fast! Love you!!!!!!
Love, Holly
Hi Everyone!
Wow, what I crazy week has been!!!! Let me tell you all about how training is........it's a bit stressful! haha. I feel more tired then I probably have my whole mission! Except for maybe when I first came out. Well let me tell you a little bit about my greenie, her name is Sister Anderson and she is from Salem, Utah. And she is absolutely AMAZING!!!! The first day, we went back to the apartment after transfer meeting so she could drop her things off, we talked about the lessons we were going to do and roleplayed a little bit then she was ready to go! She didn't even want to unpack her things first! She was like "Ya! Let's go street contacting!" hahaha, she stopped the first person we saw, and he was quite a bit awkward and just walked away, but it was good for her. It was good that she jumped right into it! She has just been on fire. And it's sooo true when they say that greenies have a fire they bring with them! So many miracles have happened since she came. First, Pritish's baptism was on Saturday. It was such a wonderful baptism service! President Summerhays was able to come and share their testimony with him, and after we said the closing prayer, Pritish even got up himself to thank everyone for coming and thank everyone for their prayers for him. It was so tender! And his confirmation was great too! I'm so excited for him and his new journey.
One thing I was worried about though, once Pritish is baptized, we have Erin as an investigator (which she is still doing amazing! Erin, if you are reading this, you are stinkin awesome!!) but other then that, our teaching pool is not very much. We really struggled last transfer trying to find new investigators. BUT, here comes that greenie fire again, we have been able to gain a pretty strong potential investigator pool. We found a chinese boy early last week who set an appointment with us and when he came, he brought a friend with him. So we got two new investigators and they seem pretty cool! We'll see them again next week. Last night, we had a pretty cool miracle too. We had an appointment fall through and I was kind of bummed out because I didn't want to street contact all night for 3 hours. But we went for it anyway and as we were walking we stopped and talked to this guy and girl, the guy immediately was like "oh, you want to talk about Jesus? Ok, let's go sit down!" hahaha, it kind of took us by surprise. He is a nice guy and he wasn't really too serious about it, but he likes to have discussions. But his girlfriend, we believe, was the one who really needed the message. When we started sharing the message of the restoration, she started crying. She told us about some experiences that she has been going through lately and how she's really been needing to find God and feel his love. We really had a great, spur of the moment, lesson with them. They said they are very weary about mormons so they didn't want to set up another time as of yet, but we talked about priesthood blessings and she really wants one to help her out. They also seemed pretty interested in prophets and apostles, so they said they would check out general conference online. I gave them our number, so hopefully she'll want to give us a call soon! It was a great experience, and now of course I understand the reason of why we needed to be in that place at that time. Even if she doesn't become an investigator, that's really what she needed right then. Such tender mercies!
Anyway, sorry I went on and on again about stuff. But missionary work is great. I love you all and I hope you have an amazing week! Guess what, it's almost time to talk to you on the phone again! Time just flies by so fast! Love you!!!!!!
Love, Holly
Week 51- New transfer calls and a great week of conference
April 5, 2010
Hey there my dear loved ones!
How is everyone doing? How did everyone enjoy conference this past weekend. Wow, it was sooooo good! I was just amazed how EVERY single talk was about raising righteous children in the home and the parents responsibility of teaching children the principles of the gospel and helping them find there own testimony. It was so good! And I loved how all of it started out with President Packer talking about righteous priesthood holders, and then going into Sister Beck's talk about righteous mothers and relief society, what a good way to start it off. Then I loved at the end when Elder Andersen began by talking about how the theme of this conference was not planned but that every talk given added to the truth of the talks given before. You know inspiration was given to each one of these speakers! And that this must be something us members of the church really need to listen to!!!! I love conference! My favorite talks......Elder Bednar and Elder Holland! I love the boldness of Elder Holland! :)
We had a really good easter! We were invited by the institute teacher, Brother Webb's home for conference and dinner. They live about 30 minutes away, out of the city. It was so beautiful to see the countryside again! I miss it! And it was cute because in between sessions, their children took us on a little easter egg hunt. haha, they have children that are 8, 7, 4, and 18 months. The 4 year old hid my "basket" (a cute bowl with candy in it) and when it was time to find it, she just took me by the hand and led me straight to it. haha, I love those kids! They are so adorable! They also have a lot of land in their backyard with a little swamp/river area. The kids took us down to it to go frog hunting :) And yes, we did find some, and yes I did hold one, and yes I did take a picture of me pretending to kiss the frog. Once again, I forgot my camera cord though, so I'll add the picture to the list I want to send you in my email next week. So it was a great easter holiday. And THANK YOU MOMMY for the easter package!!!! It was such a fun surprise and I LOVE the headband you put in it! I wore it the very next day :)
Ready for transfer calls??? Here it is......Sister Westbrook is finally leaving the city. She's been here for 9 months so it's time for her to get out but I will miss serving with her. It's been such a fun transfer. But Sister Droge and I are staying together AND we are training a new missionary. Another threesome in the city, YAY! It'll kind of be like I am greenie-busting Sister Droge too, but she has trained at temple square, so she'll be able to use her expertise with that. Thank goodness!
Pritish's baptism is this upcoming Saturday!!!!!!! :) It's a little bit surreal to me, it's snuck up on us so fast! It's been hard to make steady appointments with him and we still have a little more to teach him, so please pray that everything will go well!! He says he's excited and ready for it though. He's been looking forward to this day since we set him with it and gets more and more excited as it comes closer. So I'm sure everything will be just fine, but still pray! Thank you!
Alright, I've rambled long enough. I hope you guys all had a great week and a great easter! I love you all lots and lots!
Love, Holly
Hey there my dear loved ones!
How is everyone doing? How did everyone enjoy conference this past weekend. Wow, it was sooooo good! I was just amazed how EVERY single talk was about raising righteous children in the home and the parents responsibility of teaching children the principles of the gospel and helping them find there own testimony. It was so good! And I loved how all of it started out with President Packer talking about righteous priesthood holders, and then going into Sister Beck's talk about righteous mothers and relief society, what a good way to start it off. Then I loved at the end when Elder Andersen began by talking about how the theme of this conference was not planned but that every talk given added to the truth of the talks given before. You know inspiration was given to each one of these speakers! And that this must be something us members of the church really need to listen to!!!! I love conference! My favorite talks......Elder Bednar and Elder Holland! I love the boldness of Elder Holland! :)
We had a really good easter! We were invited by the institute teacher, Brother Webb's home for conference and dinner. They live about 30 minutes away, out of the city. It was so beautiful to see the countryside again! I miss it! And it was cute because in between sessions, their children took us on a little easter egg hunt. haha, they have children that are 8, 7, 4, and 18 months. The 4 year old hid my "basket" (a cute bowl with candy in it) and when it was time to find it, she just took me by the hand and led me straight to it. haha, I love those kids! They are so adorable! They also have a lot of land in their backyard with a little swamp/river area. The kids took us down to it to go frog hunting :) And yes, we did find some, and yes I did hold one, and yes I did take a picture of me pretending to kiss the frog. Once again, I forgot my camera cord though, so I'll add the picture to the list I want to send you in my email next week. So it was a great easter holiday. And THANK YOU MOMMY for the easter package!!!! It was such a fun surprise and I LOVE the headband you put in it! I wore it the very next day :)
Ready for transfer calls??? Here it is......Sister Westbrook is finally leaving the city. She's been here for 9 months so it's time for her to get out but I will miss serving with her. It's been such a fun transfer. But Sister Droge and I are staying together AND we are training a new missionary. Another threesome in the city, YAY! It'll kind of be like I am greenie-busting Sister Droge too, but she has trained at temple square, so she'll be able to use her expertise with that. Thank goodness!
Pritish's baptism is this upcoming Saturday!!!!!!! :) It's a little bit surreal to me, it's snuck up on us so fast! It's been hard to make steady appointments with him and we still have a little more to teach him, so please pray that everything will go well!! He says he's excited and ready for it though. He's been looking forward to this day since we set him with it and gets more and more excited as it comes closer. So I'm sure everything will be just fine, but still pray! Thank you!
Alright, I've rambled long enough. I hope you guys all had a great week and a great easter! I love you all lots and lots!
Love, Holly
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