Week 60: Hola Guayanabo! Nice to meet you!

Hola a todos!!

Well, this week I'm pretty sure everything you could think of happened! First of all, we have transfers and.. I'm off to GUAYANABO!! It's near San Juan, so close to the mission home and from what I've heard it's definitely a lot more city. But, we'll see what part we actually live. So no more ocean from what I know, but a new atmosphere so we'll see what happens! Mi hija Hermana Lopez is going to take on Arecibo, and she is going to do absolutely amazing!! She is completely prepared and has a lot of work set out for her; but she definitely won't be doing it alone because she is going to be in a TRIO!! Can you believe that?? The mission has had a lot of changes, apparentely 24 missionaries are going home this transfer and of course more are coming in! 

I think Heavenly Father told me without me realizing it that I was going to Guayanabo haha here is what happened! A contact had given us some pasta de guayava which is from a fruit here and Hna Lopez asked me, What's this called? Pasta de Guayanabo? Hahaha I was like, no Guayanabo is a city here! And the crazy thing is, she's never heard of Guayanabo!! So as soon as she said that I thought, haha that would be funny . . and it happened! So here we go :) 

So talking about this week, like I said, we experienced a bit of everything. A lot of success, a lot of rejection, a lot of small miracles, and a lot of faith trying moments. But I've come to realize that really no matter how many bad and hard moments there are, they just all seem to disappear as we focus on the good we are given! And the Lord blessed us a lot this week.. because.. we have a BAPTISMAL DATE with Kayla!!!!! Yayaya!! I've never seen someone so willing to change and to be baptized! She is working for the 6th of June and we are super excited :) Yes, it's going to be a little hard not to see it, but I am confident that Hna Lopez is going to work miracles here! Also, we found 2 other new investigators this week who are both willing to be baptized as well, how great is that?? One is a college student who is truly looking for the truth, and she told us that with just reading about the Restoration and some of the Book of Mormon, she feels like she's found it. LIKE WHAT?! I am so excited for what Heavenly Father has in store for Arecibo. I know He loves the people here and it has been amazing to feel just a little bit of the love as a missionary! 

I don't have too much time but we also had our Zone Conference this week with Presidente Cornish, who is presidente of the Carribbean Area! It was incredible and he gave us a lot of good ideas and tips to better work with the members and how to help the investigators come to their own conversion. I testify that the Lord speaks through His servants!! How grateful I am for that.

Well, on to a new adventure! How amazing it is to know that no matter where we are or where we go, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is always the same!! So, here I go to teach the people of Guayanabo! Wish me luck!!

Love, 

Hermana Holt

 

 waiting for more than an hour to skype the family

 so happy to see their faces

 Hma Lara and Hma Lopez at zone conf.

 

 pretty in pink

 

 Juan and Isabel

 

 our first time trying sunflower seeds

 youth activity

 ward members cheering

Week 59: The final call home

Hola a todos!!

Well, this past week was a great one, with many miracles, and it ended SUPER because I got to see you guys!!!! How grateful I am for technology that allows us to see each other even though it's just 2 times a year!! And it's absolutely crazy because I'll actually get to see your faces in person in less than 5 months!! I don't think I've ever felt time go by so fast!! 

Well, you guys won't believe what happened this week! Hna Lopez and I truly saw and felt the hand of the Lord guiding us to 2 new people that we are teaching :) The first one is Kayla! She was a reference from the Elders that we have been trying to contact for weeks put her phone never worked and whenever we passed by (and she does not live close haha) she wasn't there. SO! One of the members came with us to a lesson but right as she picked us up, the investigator that we were going to go with canceled. Pues, ok then! So then I thought, well lets take advantage that we have a ride and lets stop by with Kayla and see if she's home.. and she WAS! The lesson that we had with her was amazing. Super duper spiritual and she is super prepared! She's a single mom with a 5 year old son who is the cutest thing!! The Elders had passed by like one or two times so she already knew a little bit of the Restoration. So we got to know her a little bit and she started to tell us how she is ready to change and how she wants to help her son and raise him in the right paths, well that's perfect because we can help her with just that :) We testified strongly on the families and how the Gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ can change us and when we invited her to be baptized, she accepted!!! Woo!!! So she has a lot of potential :) She should be coming to church this week!

Our other miracle investigator is Joliana! We stopped by a members house to get our hair trimmed and the members best friend, Joliana, had stopped by in the exact moment that we got there.. :) Coincidence?? The member had told us that Joliana had been asking her in the passed couple of weeks why the member kept saying that her family is a forever family. Perfect! So we got to know her a little bit, super casual, and then she started to tell us that it had caught her attention because the church that she is attending right now teaches that after we die, we aren't going to recognize anyone, we aren't going to know our families. Saying that outloud really hit her hard because then she started to cry and told us that she can't imagine not remembering her 2 daughters and that it didn't seem right. Wow, how grateful I am for the knowledge we have that our families can be together forever, and that Heavenly Father makes that possible! And we taught and testified of just that :) The spirit was super strong and she is super receptive to the spirit!! We have another lesson with her this week and we are super excited!!!

I love the Gospel.

Tomorrow we have our Zone Conference with Elder Cornish! It's going to be with 3 other zones and almost an all day thing so we are super duper excited :) And also tomorrow we have our Member Missionary activity!! Wish us luck!!!! We have been preparing really hard for this and feel that the Lord has even guided us in our plans. Well, that's all I've got right now!! This week is my last week training Hermana Lopez, I can't even believe how fast the time has gone.. she is an amazing missionary and I have been so blessed to spend these past 12 weeks with her. We'll see what the transfers bring this next week! Have a great week everyone!! 

Love, 

Hermana Holt

 Happy Mother's Day!

 

Sweet companions

 

Week 58: The Creator Knows us

Hola a todos!!

Sorry I'm writing so late, this morning we had a Zone Activity! It was here in Arecibo and we went to La Cueva del Indio! Hna Lopez and I had already been before, but it was fun to go with the Zone! We had our personal study right on the beach, explored the caves, and then went to go eat after! It's great to see other missionaries and share with each other what we've been learning and what's been happening in our areas! We are definitely one big team, and that's the most important! 

This week was a little low on lessons but we've been doing our best to brighten our faith! We ran into an old investigator and happened to pass by in the perfect moment when she was cleaning her house, service!! Woo! And it definitely paid off because we got to share a super good lesson at the end, reminding her of the Restoration and of the Book of Mormon, which she recommitted to read! We hope and pray that she'll be ready this time..

We couldn't teach our two investigators this week, Yesenia nor Ana and we are dying to see them!! Everyone seemed to have a lot of crazy things this week, but we know this next week is going to be a good one :)

Our less active Carmina came to church again!! YAY!! She's such a sweetheart and I am so blown away as I see her humble example of coming back to our Savior Jesus Christ. Her coming back has really pumped up the ward and they've become really involved with her, it's a great thing to see!! Speaking of the ward, Hermana Lopez and I talked with the Bishop and he allowed us to have a mission activity with the members, to see if we can get them a little bit more excited to do missionary work :) Us missionaries are planning a great activity full of Preach My Gospel, practicing, and sharing of testimonies! Most of the members in the ward are coverts so I know that as they share their experiences of when the missionaries first knocked on their door, not only will it strengthen all of us, but I feel like it will strengthen them personally and get them excited to share this happiness with everyone! The activity is next week, so we'll see how it goes!

I just want to testify of something super special that Heavenly Father reminded me of this week, that He knows us. He, the Creater of all things, KNOWS us and is so aware of what we are going through at this point in our lives. He cares about everything we care about. He knows what we need and wants to help us achieve it. I have been so blessed this week through the example, words, and testimonies of the people I have talked to. He knows me. He knows you. And He knows that we need His son Jesus Christ. That's why He sent him to us :) 

I love you all and hope you have a great week!! And for all the mother's out there, Happy Mother's Day this coming week!! 

Love, 

Hermana Holt

studying at the beach

 

 

Picture of a picture with Yesenia's kids

 

What a view

 

Love my little girl

 

My district

 

Visiting the caves again

Week 57: Five Months Left

Hola a todos!!

Well, I'm kinda freaking out thinking that I've only got 5 months LEFT!! What is this?? 

This week was a good one :) Besides the fact that we've been melting every second we step outside, we have managed to survive the week! Our amazing less active Carmina came to church this week! WOO!! Finally!! Hermana Lopez and I were super excited and she loved it. She also came to our Ward Activity that we had and she loved that too! It was such a sweet experience because at the beginning of the activity, everyone went around and introduced themselves and when it came to Carmina, she said, Hi I'm Carmina and just so you all know, I'm coming back. AWE I about died when she said that! She's on her way back home and we love visiting with her and helping her in the process :)

For the Ward Activity we watched the documentary, Meet the Mormons!! I hadn't seen it before and it was awesome!! I imagine that a lot of you have seen it, but if not, watch it!! It's so cool! I loved how every story talked about something different and showed how we really are just ordinary people who live normal lives, but the thing is that as members of the church, we've got something extraordinary! I love how the Gospel of Jesus Christ enriches our lives and can help anyone no matter who they are or what their circumstance is. Haha the last segment about the missionary mom touched Hermana Lopez and I a little bit harder than we thought, once Hna Lopez started crying I just lost it haha good tears :) But we felt a little bit better when we found out that our Elders (there are 4 of them) also shed a few tears haha! How sweet!

So we have a new investigator! Her name is Ana and we are super excited to teach her! We taught her the first time this week and we basically touched the first and second lesson for all of the questions that she had from baptism to what will happen after this life to faith to Joseph Smith, etc haha but we ended on the best note, the Book of Mormon! She loves the Bible and knows it front and back, so we were a little surprised that when we explained to her that Christ had gone to the Americas that she just looked at us and said, De verdad?! She then took the Book of Mormon and opened to a random page and the scripture happened to talk about faith and baptism.. 2 things we had just discussed, it was PERFECT!! I almost had tears streaming down my face the Spirit was so strong. She has such a strong desire to follow Christ so we are excited to teach her! She was going to come to church but she had a little emergency, but next week :)

Well, this week is going to be a little busy with meetings, but we are excited to see what the Lord has in store for us :) Have a great week everyone!

Love, 

Hermana Holt

 

 A large bag of clothes from our neighbor

 

 I woke up to this little friend

 

  

13 months

 My companion made this for me

 Each dress & flower hides words used to describe me

 She thinks I'm funny

 Wow, a foreshadowing of our Mother's day call

Week 56: Feast Upon the Words of Christ

Hola a todos!!

Well, this week was a lot better teaching wise, and we were able to see some small miracles throughout the week! Our mission has been really focusing on inviting our investigators to be baptized so we can get some baptismal dates! Hermana Lopez and I were a little worried because none of our investigators seem to be progressing that much, but we had a lot of faith this week and invited some of them to be baptized, and they all accepted!!!! So, now we just have to get them with baptismal dates, and help them really recognize their answer!! I want to talk about Yesenia, and investigator that we have a lot of faith in!!

We started teaching Yesenia about 3 weeks ago and she loves it when we come over! She is super open and is already loving the Book of Mormon, which is awesome! When we first shared it with her, we read the last 2 paragraphs of the Introduction with her and as she finished, she said, wow - why don't other churches tell us about this?? Haha she is so cute! She told us that she loved the part that said that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the kingdom of God here upon the earth.. she's gold!! She also loves the testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith which is great! This week we watched The Testaments movie with her and her 2 little girls, and it was awesome. SO spiritual and we know she felt the Spirit, and her daughters did too! I love testifying of when Christ came to the Americas. The Spirit of the Book of Mormon is incredible! She accepted to be baptized, but the ONLY thing is that her and her husband aren't married...... AND he is never in the lessons, nor is he there when we are there, so that's going to be the hardest thing! We are hoping and praying that he'll be able to join us in the next lessons so we are able to talk about all of that with them. But, they should be coming to our church activity this week so we are super excited about that!!

We found a new investigator this week and let me say, there is no excuse for age!! Haha this women is 89 years old and the first day we stopped by, she had already read the whole Restoration pamphlet!!! Hahaha talk about will power!! She is the cutest little old lady, and all though she doesn't exactly remember everything, she is super willing to keep studying so she is able to remember! 

We had intercambios this week and guess who is our new Sister Trainer?? Hermana Watkins!!!! It was SO good to see her and to work with her in her area of Vega Baja!! Haha we haven't seen each other from San Sebastian and it was so great to catch up with her!! We got rained on super duper hard haha that we had to literally wait under the roof of a basketball court for all the rain to pass because the water was up to our ankles!! So we were soaking wet half of the day, but it was fun! 

Oh one more thing!! We finally got into contact with a convert that was baptized about 6 months ago, but who is now less active because she hasn't been coming to church for health issues.. it's been super sad to see and super hard on us because we can barely come in to contact with her, but we were blessed immensely because she happened to be in her house when we passed by. Wow! Let me just say, I was completely shocked and my testimony grew so much more of the power of the scriptures!! As we were talking to her about her church attendance, she started to cry and told us how she is going to try really hard to get up on Sundays, but it's been hard with her health problems. Then she just looked at us and testified of the scriptures and how they have helped her in these months.. after reading the Book of Mormon, she has read the entire guia de las escrituras and is already reading doctrine and covenants!!!!!!!! The WHOLE thing!! Wow, I was completely blown away!!!! She testified of the strength that she has received in these hard months just from reading every night. Just another testimony builder to me of the power that we receive as we read the word of God!!

 

Wow, the Gospel is true :)

Anyway, that's all for now, have a great week everyone and remember to continually feast upon the words of Christ!! For they will tell us all that we should do!

Love, 

Hermana Holt

Week 55: I Knew!

Hola a todos!! 

What a week it has been! The sun has decided to reallllly come down on us haha it has begun :) I kid you not, I've never used so much sun screen in my entire life! The people literally tell us that we smell like the beach haha but it could be worse, right? 

Where to begin? Well, our testimonies were really tried this week, but I've never felt my testimony stronger! So, a few weeks ago I mentioned a contact that we made that was literally an answer to our prayers! Well, she invited us over finally and she was so sweet to make us lunch. Her cousin who was visiting her was over too and he was super cool! He mentioned to us that for his work he has been to Utah several times and even visited temple square! Everything was going super well, so after we finished we taught them about the Restoration! We barely started talking about when Christ established His church when she begins to go off on.. a lot of different things!! Oh man! Haha in that moment I was thinking, poor Hermana Lopez, she's probably freaking out!! So I lovingly tried to continue the lesson as we discussed everything with the priesthood and the apostasy. She seemed to calm down a bit but I literally had a huge pit in my stomach because I knew where it was going. I then testified to her that because God loves us so much, He called a prophet in our days to restore the truths that had been lost for so many years.. I then began to testify of Jospeh Smith. Wow, in the moment that I began to say the first vision, I began to feel the warmest feeling I have ever felt in my chest, that slowly begun to spread throughout my whole body - that by the time I finished the words said to Joseph Smith, ".. este es mi Hijo Amado, escuchalo.." I felt completely covered by this warm sensation. I KNEW that the Holy Ghost was confirming to me in that moment, that was I was saying was true. That Joseph Smith really did see our Heavenly Father and His son Jeus Christ! And how grateful I am for the testimony I have, because our investigator didn't seem to happy about that. I'm not going to say what she began to say, but I do want to say that we MUST know for ourselves that these things are true. That Joesph Smith was a prophet, that the Gospel is restored! That we have the priesthood keys here on the earth, that the Book of Mormon is true and testifies of Jesus Christ!! We are in the last days and we must be prepared for what is going to come - we must stand strong and testify of what we know is true!! I'm super grateful for experiences like this in my mission, not that they are easy to have, but they make me and my testimony stronger. 

I wish I had more time to explain all the experiences we've had this week, but I'll have to keep it at this for now! Things are going well, we are still on the lookout for the people Heavenly Father is preparing, so we are praying we will find them in the coming weeks! We have a lot of faith in an investigator named Yesenia, I'll talk about her next week!! We also received a lot of names this week to contact so we are excited about that too! The work continues and we love it!! Have a great week everyone :)

Love, 

Hermana Holt

Week 54: Conference was Amazing

Hola a todos!! 

Well, I think I know what every missionary is going to talk about today.. Did you see Conference?? HOW AMAZING IT WAS!! I am completely blown away by the messages that we heard, all the leaders who spoke were completely inspired by the Spirit and said exactly what we needed to hear. I can testify again and again that I know that if we go to Conference with specific questions, and an open heart ready to learn, we will receive the answers we need. And as missionaries it's super amazing because we get to think about others and what they need, and I can tell you that the questions I had for them were even answered! Heavenly Father loves His children! How grateful I am for living prophets and apostles, we are super blessed :)

Ok so you don't even have to ask because there is no way I can pick a favorite talk, but I'll just touch on a few of them! First of all, after the first talk by Elder Erying to open the conference, my comp and I just thought, well.. I think we can end the conference with that! WHAT power he had as he testified of the power of fasting and the blessings of paying a generous fast offering! Really, as missionaries, as crazy as it seems sometimes, one of our favorite things to do is fast. I testify along with Elder Eyring that we are richly blessed spiritually and temporally as we keep this commandment! I also loved L. Whitney Claytons talk, that if we search and have a desire to believe, there will always be a spiritual light beckoning us. We just need to act! This is a great principle we are going to use with some investigators :) The afternoon session I think was the session that I loved the most!! Elders Bednar and Christofferson spoke with such power and who didn't love the talk from Elder Andersen of the 70?? Coming from a musical family, this one one of my favorites :) How sweet is President Monson? I loved how simple and powerful his talk was on temples, it truly is a place where we can go with any condition of heart and find peace. HOW exciting for the new temples!! We are all stoked to have another temple here in the Caribbean!! Yaya! Puerto Rico is going to be next.. haha :) Elder Holland took down the house as always and President Ucthdorf truly taught us what the grace of Christ is. How grateful I am for my Savior and the grace that he is so willing to give us. The final session was super funny because us missionaries in the other room were watching the Conference in English, but when they announced that there would be a speaker giving his talk in Spanish, we all ran to the other room to hear it, and then we had to run back! And then like 2 talks later we had to run again to the other room to watch the other talk in Spanish! Haha the members thought it was funny! It's crazy to think sometimes that I actually can understand what they are saying haha! And what a good way to end the Conference with the delightful words of Elder Nelson, the Sabbath really is a delight!!

I hope everyone was able to think of our Savior Jesus Christ as we celebrated His resurrection, even though it is something we really should think about daily! I am so grateful for Him in my life and for what His resurrection means for me personally and for every single one of us. I hope that we all can take a moment to really really think about what His death and resurrection mean. I love how the scriptures describe it! And I love (and I hope you have all seen) the new video of the church, Gracias a que El Vive! Seek Him, and share this gift with others :)

This week was a little bit more difficult for Hna Lopez and I, lessons wise. Since it was Holy Week, with a strong culture here, most of the people didn't have school and either weren't home, or were at the beach haha soo we didn't have much luck but we received SO many blessings. We got to share with more people our testimony of Jesus Christ and about the new video! There were a lot of times this week were we just seemed to walk and walk and there was no one and we kept thinking, what are we supposed to do now? But Heavenly Father blessed us with a lot of animo (not sure there is a word for that in English.. haha) this week - even though number wise we weren't having a lot of success, I have never felt so happy to just walk around and talk to people and just be outside sharing the great news! He gave us a lot of strength and a lot of faith to keep walking that thinking about it now, it's incredible! Heavenly Father sure does love us and is literally there with us every step of the way. We just need to put some faith in every footstep :)

Well, that's all I have time for! I love you all and hope you have a great week!! I challenge you all to share your testimony of Christ with someone this week and to share what Christs resurrection means to you!

Love, 

Hermana Holt

 

Dinner with Brenda after conference

 

Mama and Daughter

 

Waiting for Women's Conference to start

Week 53: My Testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Hola a todos!!

Well, something went wrong with my email and now I only have 5 minutes.. TESTIMONY TIME!!!

I KNOW that Heavenly Father loves us and is SO aware of everything we are going through. If we pray to Him with a sincere heart, He will help us with what we need! He already knows what we need and what we desire, He is just waiting for us to turn it all to Him so he can help us :) What better way to go through our lives than with the help of our Savior?! And guess what week it is?! EASTER!! I know that Jesus Christ lives!! His resurrection means everything to me. He died for every single one of us, and yet he LIVES for every single one of us everyday! What a blessing that is. How grateful I am for Jesus Christ and to be able to represent him for 18 months. Also, Jesus Christ made it possible that FAMILIES CAN BE TOGETHER FOREVER!! I love testifying of that! The womens conference this past weekend was incredible and I hope all of us will defend the family!! It's the most precious thing that we have. And what greater love and happiness can we have than to live with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, AND with our families. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is absolutely incredible in every way!

Sorry it's a short one, but it is still written with all the love I have :)

Make sure that you watch the new Easter video!! Share it :)

Love, 

Hermana Holt

Sister Activity, Toa Baja Zone

Week 52: God Hears our Prayers

Hola a todos!!

Man, did we see some miracles this week!!! For these past weeks, Hna Lopez and I have been trying to really focus on our prayers. We know that as we ask for specific things, we get specific answers. So, in these past weeks we've been praying to find a family, and a single woman. Haha we wanted to be specific! And after a long couple of weeks, we found both of them in these past few days!!!! Incredible

On Wednesday we decided to contact an area that we've never been to. That's always the best cause you can talk with absolutely everyone!!! But as we started to walk, we realized that we were entering el campo! Haha meaning that there are a lot of trees and fields and farms and not a lot of houses! So one of the first houses we see, we decided to see if anyone was there! Out walks a women named Irma. OH my goodness this lady is prepared!!! Once she figured out who we were, she asks us, so what's different about your religion than the others? BEST question!! So we begin talking about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon! And so she let us in :) Haha wow, it was awesome! She is asisting another church right now but she said that she doesn't believe in everything that they teach. She told us that as she reads the Bible, she feels that there is something more! HOW perfect is this?? We have another appointment for this week so we are praying that everything continues to go well!!

Heres the other story!! So, we contacted in another place we've never been :) and as we were walking there was this guy on the side of the road kinda looking at us haha! So obviously, we walk as fast as we can past him but as we walked by, we saw a house with a family inside! So I thought, this is perfect - as soon as we come back we can stop by! Well, obviously that wasn't what Heavenly Father wanted because as we kept walking, one of the memebers stops by in his car and says, pointing to the house we just passed, you need to visit that family. OK!! Hahaha so we turned around and contacted them. SUCH a cute and humble family! Yesenia, the mom, lives with her husband and her 4 kids! But they told us that the Elders had already passed! So we just shared a little bit with them, and we were off! Once we talked to the Elders, they told us that we can visit them!!!! WOO!! How sweet! So, we went back Sunday and taught about the family and WOW what a powerful lesson!! More to come on this family :) 

I know that prayer works!! Heavenly Father loves us SO much and wants to answer us! We just have to be humble, ask with a sincere heart, and follow the guidance He gives us!!

I love you all, have a great week!!

Love, 

Hermana Holt

 Climbing into the caves

 Jan Carlos just got baptized in December

 La Cueva del Indio

 

Yesnia was our guide 

 

Peace out Mesa

 

 

Week 51: Elder Holland

Hola a todos!! 

Meeting with Elder Holland was AMAZING!!!!!! So, we got to have the whole mission together (except the people on the islands who had it transmitted to watch - I was so sad because I thought I was going to finally see the Wrights!!) and it was seriously so great to see so many people! I got to see every one of my companions and missionaries from old districts and zones! The only companion that wasn't there was my trainer Hna Sosa, she just went home this past transfer.. time has gone by too fast!! 

So, we definitely had some strict rules with meeting Elder Holland! He wanted to personally meet every one of us, so we had to do a lot of lines, and we basically got to shake his firm hand, and we told him our name and where we are from! Haha so obviously it was like 3 seconds, but it was so worth it!! Elder Hugo Martinez was there too and it was great to see him again and it was so special because he already knows Hna Lopez and I! Presidente y Hna Boucher spoke first, then Elder Martinez, and then the GRAND finale was Elder Holland! Haha and man was it grand alright, he speaks with SO much power it's incredible!!!! He spoke about a lot of things but I just want to touch on a few things!

He basically had like 2 "themes" that he focused on a lot. The first was that FAITH ALWAYS LOOKS FORWARD. How cool is that? We need to take what we learn from the past and plan for the future. We are in the mission preparing others to have a better future, we are helping in the preparation for the future of the church. We are preparing ourselves for our own future; for our future family, our future jobs, and that WE are the future of the church. So, we definitely need a lot of faith, we have to keep going! I loved it because he then began to talk about Moroni, as he was finishing up the Book of Mormon. Moroni knew that all the Nephites were going to be destroyed, he knew that the church wasn't going to last. How hard would that have been for him to be one of the last? So why did he keep going? In Moroni chapter 8, it says that he saw our day. He saw the future of the church! He saw what we are doing know! Elder Holland said that he (Moroni) might have thought, Well then, I'm going to keep going, I'm going to keep fighting, I'm going to keep trying because even though I won't succeed, they in the future will. Moroni had the FAITH that everything would turn out ok in the long run. He then bore strong testimony and finished the Book of Mormon!

HOW powerful!!

So then, Elder Holland focused on the Book of Mormon :) It was incredible and it is such an important tool for us as missionaries! Our investigators have to understand the importance of the Book of Mormon and have to gain a testimony of it! It's so crucial. He told us that he wants our mission to be a Book of Mormon Mission! So, you can imagine that now as a mission we are focusing a lot on that! Elder Holland said, Just by opening the Book of Mormon, there is a spirit about it - DON'T miss that spirit. 

WOW! It was an amazing experience and I wish I could just write down all my notes! But I hope that you can think about those 2 things this week. Have the faith to keep looking forward! Cherish the Book of Mormon and study it, feast upon the words of Christ!! I've always had a testimony of the Book of Mormon, but reading and truly studying it and pondering it every day has brought so much joy into my life that I can't even explain it! It was super special too because as Elder Holland finished he said, How did I get on this subject? I guess I was supposed to be..

I testify that God speaks to His prophets and His apostles in these last days. I know without a doubt that the church of Jesus Christ is here on this earth and that we are a part of it!! How blessed are we, Heavenly Father LOVES us so much, we just have to open our eyes and our hearts and recognize it! I love this gospel with all of my heart!

This week was a good one, a TON of walking because we are on the look out for the people that God is preparing, we know they are out there, we just have to keep looking forward with faith! :) So we will keep going, we will keep trying, and we won't stop until we find them! 

I love you all!! Have a great week!!

Love, 

Hermana Holt

Elder Holland 

(I am cut out of the picture on the right)

  

Party in the plaza

Arecibo is 500 years old 

Windy day at the beach

Week 50: Miracles never cease

Hola a todos!!

 

This week was SO cool because we saw so many small miracles!!! The Lord is so in charge and we are so excited to see how the next few weeks roll out!

 

Well, we focused a lot of our time this week in contacting and finding and let me tell you, it was so worth it! Of course more people rejected us than accepted us, but Hermana Lopez and I just felt SO happy talking to everyone!! 

 

First, a couple of weeks ago we received a reference from a member and so we called to set up an appointment and the reference kinda hung up on us.. but yesterday we felt the impression to call her again. So we did, and she didn't answer. This morning, a random number called us and I thought, who could this be? It was the reference we had called the day before and she was super happy to talk to us and we should be meeting her this week!

 

Second, the other night it was about 8 and all of our plans had fallen through and so we decided to contact even though contacting at night isn't always easy, since no one wants to go outside! As we are walking this old lady sees us and begins to cheer! Haha we thought, uhh what's going on.. let's contact her! She recognized that we were missionaries and let us in to her house haha! She is super Catholic but she says that she loves seeing the youth spend their time as missionaries to help others! So we shared with her and invited us back that week. We stopped by again and her brother, who lives with her, came into the lesson and he already knows a ton about Mormons and he was super open, more open than her! We have another lesson this week, but it's so great to see how Heavenly Father will always put people into our paths if we are obedient!

 

Third, we had an appointment with a family that fell through and we were going to start heading for the house when I remembered that Hna Lara and I had contacted a house a loonggg time ago that was super close to where we were. It was a little late, but we decided to stop by! As soon as she sees us she had the biggest smile on her face and let us in! We were able to share with her for a little bit and it went super well!! Hna Lopez and I have a feeling that she has been prepared by the Lord! Prayers for her!

 

Fourth, we stopped by an new investigators house and I was explaining to Hna Lopez how we really have to take control of the lessons, because the investigator talks A LOT and sometimes we can barely get a lesson in! Haha I'm not sure if this was a good thing or not but when we got there, the investigator had completely lost her voice the day before!! Hahaha so we thought, the Restoration!!!! So we taught her the Restoration and she had to listen :) Haha she doesn't exactly believe in everything we said, but I felt that it was a miracle because we were able to teach what we felt she needed and we could at least feel the spirit!! 

 

Fifth, we stopped by with Tatiana (the joven that had a baptismal date for last month but stopped progressing..) not sure if we were going to have to drop her or not. When we got there she gave us the biggest hugs and told us that she was reading! WHAT?! We were SO excited :) We taught a good lesson with her and we are hoping to give her another baptismal date this week!!

 

These are only a few and Hna Lopez and I just feel so blessed and we can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for us in these next weeks! Training is going great and Hna Lopez is a natural!! She has such a strong testimony and I know that she is helping our investigators so much!!

 

Well, that's all I have right now! Tomorrow the WHOLE mission is getting together because we are having a special guest.... ELDER HOLLAND will be talking to us missionaries tomorrow and I am STOKED!!!! More details next week :)

 

Love you all and have a great week!!

 

Love, 

Hermana Holt

 

Elder Martinez

 

ARECIBO

 

Wishing my sister Anna a happy birthday

 

Wow!  Anna is 14

 

Sweet familia

 

Beautiful Arecibo

We've been caught