Week 18: 4 months

So Transfers are this week...

 

I'M STAYING HERE IN SAN SEBASTIAN WITH HERMANA SOSA!!!

 

Haha what a stressful and emotional week it has been anticipating to find out if I was staying or going and who was going to be my companion! All the members have been freaking out too haha. And especially because right before we got the call from our District Leader, we extended 3 Baptismal Dates and they all accepted!!!! Hahaha so we were just hoping and hoping that we would stay, of course keeping in mind that it is the will of the Lord! Our District Leader called us when we were walking down the street, and when he told us we literally started dancing and jumping up and down haha all the cars were probably like who are these missionaries?! But it was something worth dancing for! We are super excited to have another 6 weeks to work here together!

 

So, let me tell you about these 3 investigators! I think I talked a little bit about them last week, but one of them is Aurora. She is awesome!! She has the absolute biggest desire to know the truth! She has visited so many different churches that all have different doctrine, so she is super confused about a lot of things. So she has a lot of questions too though, which is good! As we taught her the Restoration she was completely intrigued by the Book of Mormon, and I almost cried when I saw her reaction as we gave it to her! She just kept telling us over and over how happy she was to receive it and how she was super excited to start reading it!! Yaya!! She accepted a date for the 23rd of August, so we are going to work really hard with her. The only thing is, she is super busy during the week so we only get to see her once a week, but we are hoping we can teach her twice a week! Vamos a ver!

 

The other two are Peggy (the American) and now her husband Vicente! Oh my goodness she is hilarious!! And guess what? We have been teaching her in English and it's been SO fun! Haha and really, Hermana Sosa is rocking it too! Vicente understands English too, but we want to take time to teach him some of the doctrine in Spanish too so he can really understand. It's been a little weird knowing what to do with the different languages, but I feel that the Lord is guiding us in knowing what to say. And oh my goodness, Vicente is so cute to Peggy! He always re-explains the things we say to make sure that she understands! Haha so when we mention Joseph Smith he'll be like, "You know Peggy, the prophet that..." and stuff like that haha it's so great! They are super receptive and are super willing to learn. When we extended the Baptism Date, Peggy was super concerned because she is in a wheelchair and thought that we were going to baptize her in the river!!! Haha what? We talked about it though with her and it's all good now!

 

Now, the only thing is, with these investigators, and actually with ALL of our investigators, is getting them to come to church. And going to church is just as important!! Gah!! It's frustrating sometimes, but we keep working with it! Concerning our other investigators, sadly none of them are progressing as much as we would like them to. HOWEVER, we have 6 more weeks so they haven't gotten rid of us yet :)

 

One amazing thing that happened this week!! So, there is a family of 7 in the ward  - seven!! - that recently became less active about a month or so before we got here, so for about 4 months now. We had only taught them one time when we first got here and the other times, they were never home and the mom wouldn't answer our calls. The kids are 14, 11, 6, and twins that are 3, such a cute family! The ward has been fighting to try and get them to church so Saturday we decided to go check to see if they would let us in, and they did!! We talked about the talk that President Uchtdorf gave in the last October General Conference! Haha I'm not sure what it is in English but I think it's like, Come and Join With Us, amazing talk. We shared this and invited them to come to church. As we were sitting in Relief Society yesterday morning, the Stake Presidents Wife was giving the lesson when she basically screamed, they came!! The window in the RS room outlooks the parking lot and THEY CAME TO CHURCH!!! I kid you not, all of the RS women were literally almost in tears and the RS president kept blowing me and Hermana Sosa kisses haha but of course, we all know that it wasn't us missionaries, but the Holy Ghost testifying to this family too! We have another appointment this week, so we are hoping all goes well and that we can have 2 weeks in a row!!

 

Well, that's all I can think of right now! We are praying hard here for the work to keep progressing, and I am so excited for the 6 weeks more that I have to work! Have a great week everyone!!

 

Love,

Hermana Holt

 How should I celebrate?

With a gluten free pancake

our investigator, Zaida, and her cute dog

cutest missionaries ever

Week 17: Another baptism

Hola todo!

Sorry I couldn't write yesterday, there was a holiday here or something so the Library was closed! But guess what also happened yesterday? We got a text Sunday that we were having a Zone activity for our P-day.. and that to be ready to go bowling!!! Hahaha yup, my whole zone went bowling for P-day, it was SO fun!! Kinda weird to see everyone in regular clothes, but it was a fun time!!

So guess what... YAN CARLOS WAS BAPTIZED!!!! WOOO!! It was super nice and a lot of the ward members came!! Haha well, his uncle is the Stake President (President Arrocho) who is in our ward and baptized him, and actually, basically all the Arrocho family is in the ward! So they were all there haha but it was really great!! And his mom was super excited for the baptism too which was so awesome to see!! Yayaya for baptisms!!! 

With our other investigators though we didn't have a lot of luck this week, but we are hoping to have more contact with Marilin, Nilda, and Sandra this coming week. Everyone was just super busy this past week which was hard! But however, we did find two more investigators to teach who are ready to hear the Gospel!!! One of them we might actually have to teach in English... YES!!! Haha Hermana Sosa isn't as excited for that as I am :) Anyway, her name is Peggy and she is actually from New York and moved here to Puerto Rico like almost 30 years ago without knowing Spanish! Crazy, right? So she has learned over the years but sometimes, especially talking about Gospel things, it's a little bit more confusing for her in Spanish. And she can't read in Spanish! So we are teaching her the Restoration today in English :) and I'm praying it goes well!! The other is Aurora!! She definitely is ready to hear the Gospel! When she was talking to us she was telling us how she has searched and searched for a church to help her feel completely whole, I guess you could say. A church where she would know and feel the truth, all of the truth. Umm, hello!!! We are hear to help you with that :) Gah!!! We are super excited to go back and teach her this week!! 

Friday we had our actual Zone Conference and it was amazing!! I love President and Hermana Boucher, they are seriously the best! President definitely has goals for the mission and so we are working hard to try and achieve them. Also, 2 days before the conference they asked if I could help with the musical number.. ahh!! Haha they tried to find me a violin but they couldn't find one so I played the EFY version of I Know That My Redeemer Lives and some of the sisters sang it!! It's a pretty big song and I was super nervous, but all went well!! 

So, this week is my last week of training... where has the time gone?! This Saturday (my 4 month mark) we are going to find out about Transfers, who is staying and who is going! Hermana Sosa says I'm most likely staying, which to be honest I am kind of scared about this.. ok I'm freaked out!! Haha but really, I know the Lord is going to send me (or let me stay) where He needs me!! Entonces, vamos a ver!! 

I'm sorry I'm keeping everything super short, I have less time today because we have more appointments for the day!! I hope everyone has an amazing week!! The Church is true!!!!

Love, 

Hermana Holt

 bowling with my district

 funny to wear jeans

 Yan Carlos baptism

 Yan Carlos family

 Hermana Boucher-mission president's wife

Hermana Howell

Week 16: More teaching

Hola todo!!

 

Well, what a week this has been! First off, we have a baptism this weekend!!! Surprise!! Haha so here is what happened, so there is a family in our ward, both the parents are members and they have two sons - one is 13 who was baptized and the other, Yan Carlos, who is 9 who hasn't been. The family only comes to Sacrament meeting and I guess when Yan Carlos turned 8 they just didn't baptize him? I don't know exactly what happened but we have been teaching him once a week ever since we have been here in San Sebastian! He's never been to Primary so we have to teach him pretty slow and simply. His mom still doesn't bring him to Primary, but we have been praying really hard and we are starting to see a change in her as well. So we are hoping that after the baptism she will bring them!! We thought that this baptism would be part of the ward, but actually it is one of ours because he is above the age of 8! So he is going to be baptized this weekend!! Wooo!!

 

So we were hoping to have baptismal dates with 3 of our investigators this week, but it didn't exactly work out that way! So with our first, Marilin - she is our investigator that has been progressing the most! She literally is completely prepared. She was the one that I talked about in the previous email who we are pretty sure was Mormon before because she knew and understood everything! We taught her the first part of the Plan of Salvation this week and she absolutely LOVED it. And get this!! So we asked her if she read the Introduction to the Book of Mormon and she literally marked the whole thing and the testimonies of the 11 witnesses! And she wanted to make sure she understood everything and so she explained it back to us, and it was better than I could have explained it in Spanish haha she seriously is a gem!! We extended a baptismal date at the end of the lesson and she paused for a second and said.. You know what, I need to ask someone first... (haha we were thinking.. um who??) ... I want to ask God to see if this is the right date for me to be baptized. Uh YES! Ask Him!!! We were going to visit her again later in the week but she got a surprise visit from her nephew so we weren't able to. We have appointments set up with her this week so we are praying that she can continue to progress!! Her desire to know is amazing! And it was so funny because the other sisters are teaching her mother in law and Marilin happened to be over at her mother in laws house when the sisters were teaching her the Restoration! And the sisters told us that Marilin was helping them teach the Apostasy hahaha how funny is that?? She is great!

 

So our other investigators are Nilda and Sandra, the mom and daughter. We taught them 3 times this past week and they still say they have a desire to be baptized, but they still want to learn more before they make the decision when. And they are not exactly keeping with their committments.. gah! When we stopped by Saturday to teach them, Sandra was just about to leave with her guy friend - no they aren't "boyfriend and girlfriend" so she says haha but we are a little worried because he is a lot older than she is and when she saw us she just left with him. NO!! But it gave us the opportunity to really talk with the mom and the baptism. They were going to come to church with us on Sunday but they cancelled.. again!! We were so sad!! Right now, we are kind of stuck on what to do. But we have more appointments this week so we are just praying that everything will work out the way it needs to and that we'll be able to help them progress!

 

We found some more people to teach for this next week so we are excited! So hopefully I'll have more investigators to write about next week! The weather here has been completely bipolar it is insane! One minute it is sunny and boiling hot, and then the next moment we are literally running to the closest house for shelter from the lightning (hahaha I'm not even kidding, it happened this week!!)! But hey, it's Puerto Rico and I love it :) Anyway, I'm out of time! Have a great week everyone!!

 

Love,

Hermana Holt

 Cool walking picture

 What it looks like before rain

 It's almost here

 Service project

1st time wearing jeans

Week 15: Welcome Presidente Y Hermana Boucher

Hello everyone!! So it's super funny because to be completely honest, I totally forgot about the 4th of July this past week hahaha!! But the hard thing was, everyone here didn't! Friday, Saturday, and Sunday there was this huge festival/party type thing and I'm pretty sure everyone in San Sebastian went for all three days! I kid you not, there was NO one in the street!! Haha I literally felt like I was in a cowboy movie and a tumbleweed crossed the street! So the work was a little slow those 3 days, but we still had some great lessons this past week!

We recieved a reference from the other sister missionaries a couple weeks ago of a lady they had talked to who wanted to listen to the missionaries. We tried to contact her all last week but her gate was closed! We stopped by again on wednesday and she was there!! Woo!! Oh my goodness, she is absolutely awesome!! And she has THE biggest desire to know the truth! She has a firm religious background too so she has a ton of faith which is great! We went back Saturday and taught her the first lesson. The lesson went SO well guys!! Like SO well!! She participated and basically understood everything! When we taught the Apostasy she was like, "ohh ok yeah! And because of that, this happened, and because of that, this needed to happen, right?" And she was basically right 95% of the time!! It was kinda crazy!! It's like she was Mormon before or something haha I don't know! Anyway, one of the most powerful parts of the lesson, was the Restoration. Hna Sosa lets me teach the Restoration part of the lesson and I am SO glad she does! But this lesson in particular, I don't know why it seemed different, but as I said the first vision the Spirit was SO strong I can't even explain it!! And I absolutely am certain that she felt it too because after I finished she just put her hand over her heart and just said wow, it's true. It was incredible!! There is so much power in the message of the Restoration. You know why? Because it's TRUE! And the Spirit only testifies of things that are true!! She came with us to church yesterday which was awesome and we have another appointment with her tomorrow so we're praying that all will go well!! But really, I have never seen anyone this prepared to recieve the Gospel!! GAH!! I'm so excited!! Haha after we left the lesson Hna Sosa and I could not stop jumping up and dancing!! Haha it was awesome! How grateful we feel that Heavenly Father allows us to find and teach His children! He truly loves ALL of us!

So, our other progressing investigator, the husband of one of the members in our ward, is apparently going on a trip this next week... a month long trip. NOO!! We taught him lesson 3 and really focused on faith and how with faith, we don't need a perfect knowledge of all things and we asked again about his baptism, and this is when he told us about his trip! Gah!! So teaching him has been put on hold and we'll see what happens when we get back. He plans on reading the Book of Mormon while he's gone though and we have chapters for him to read! So, we're just praying that he reads them! Our other progressing investigators (the mother and daughter) had another family thing this past sunday so they couldn't come to church again.. but THIS sunday!! We teach them a ton throughout the week and they are still receptive! We extender a baptismal date to them too and they said that they want to feel completely prepared before they do so, but they are definitely willing! So, the desire is there which is great!! So we have a lot of appointments with them this week! We do have a little bit of a dilemma though.. there is another family in our ward that apparently isn't on "good terms" with this family we are teaching... soo we are praying that everything will turn out alright!!

Anyway, really fast, we got to meet our new Mission President this past week and his wife!! Presidente y Hermana Boucher!! They are SO awesome!! The meeting was a super quick one but we got to visit with them and everything and he talked about the mission and his vision for the mission and all that fun stuff! I'm super excited and we have another meeting next week to go over even more stuff!! So, lots of meetings and lots of missionary work!! It's basically the best :) Anyway, have a great week everyone!!!

Love,

Hermana Holt

the ridiculous missionary tan line

guenepas

so delicious

Sisters conference June 23, 2014

with President and Sister Zwick and Sheri Dew

Week 14: 3 months-Just keep walking

So last week I hit my 3 MONTH mark!! Wow, I can't believe it! Sometimes it feels like I've been here for like 5 or 6 haha but I'm glad that I'm still in my early months, and I actually really enjoy training!! My companion is a rockstar!! Oh and guess what? We got a call yesterday from our new Mission President!! Ahh he is so great! When I talked to him the first thing he said was, Sister Holt, we have something in common! We are both from the great state of Arizona!! Haha he is SO cool!! We have a zone conference tomorrow and are going to meet them and I'm so excited!

So, this week was another slow week with the investigators. Almost all of our appointments canceled this week which was super difficult, but it gave us the opportunity to find and run into some less actives!! Heavenly Father is always in charge! There are soo many less actives in this ward which is super sad. And as missionaries we are here to strengthen the ward as well! So we chose one of the less actives that comes every once in a while and started walking to where we thought she lived. 2 and 1/2 hours later.. walking... we found her! Woo!! Haha I don't think I've ever been so tired in my whole life, my feet were killing me! And it happened to be the hottest day of the week!! But that's beside the point! Anyway, when we found her she was smoking... NOOO!!! As we were talking to her we found out she has really really fallen away, but she told us that she sincerely has a desire to come back. She doesn't have a car so she used to get a ride to church from the Mission Leader but she said she didn't want to bug him for a ride every sunday. We talked to her about the power of the Atonement and afterwards she said she would call the Mission Leader for a ride to church! In all honestly, we weren't sure if she would, but we were praying for her that she would. And what do you know, there she was sitting at church with us yesterday!! It was great! We also met another less active who lives with just her 8 year old daughter (who literally looks just like Megan!). She was a little hesitant at first with us showing up at her door, but then my companion started asking her about her baptism, which was about 10 years ago. Slowly, I could see the Spirit working in her as she talked about how special it was for her! We asked her about church and it's hard for her because she works everyday. But we have another appointment with her this week :) so hopefully we can help her! As we were leaving though she simply said, thank you. Awe! I know it wasn't us though, it was definitely the Spirit!

We do have 3 progressing investigators though!! Woo!! One of them is the husband of one of the members in our ward and he is awesome!! Our second lesson with him this past week we asked him how his reading went (we asked him the read the introduction to the BofM in the first lesson) and he was like, well I really liked this and this and this part and how there are all these testimonies from these men and I know that this book is true...... Um, come again? Haha oh my goodness!! He literally read allll of the introduction, the testimonies of the 11 witnesses and the testimony of Joseph Smith, and he said that he knew it was true!! Hna Sosa and I literally didn't know what to say and I'm pretty sure we smiled the entire lesson! When we extended the bautismal date though he said he still wanted to learn a lot more before he committed... GAH! So we are working on that :) But it is exciting! Our other 2 are the daughter and mom! They had some family things last week so we didn't get to visit them a lot, but we keep in contact with her throughout the week! The daughter has been reading and she says she knows it's true. Ah!! We have FHE with them tonight so we'll see how it goes!!

Anyway, Hermana Sosa and I are really excited for this week and are ready to work super hard!! We are just hoping that our investigators are actually at their houses.. hahaha oh my gosh!! This week was so weird because we literally had people RUN away from us so that we wouldn't talk to them!! What's up with that?!?! Haha I don't even know. Well, have a good week everyone!!

Love, Hermana Holt

3 month mark

tired after walking

Week 13: Goodbye Zwicks, Hello Sister Dew

Hey everyone!! Sorry I'm writing so late in the week, these past few days and this past week have been absolutely crazy!!! Last week didn't really end the way we would have like it to, but the work is in the Lord's hands so we need to always trust in that!! Some circumstances came up and we aren't going to be teaching our two families anymore. I am absolutely so sad, but right now is just not the time, so I'm praying that in the future that it will be better! We are still keeping in contact with them though which I'm happy about! So right now, we don't have a lot of investigators or investigators that are progressing, but we are praying that this next week all will go well with the people we have contacted! Also, my dear companion got lice this past week so it took a couple of days to take care of that!! Don't worry, I am completely good - we have checked multiple times!!

So Monday we had a Sisters Training Meeting for all the Sister Missionaries in the mission and oh my goodness, it was amazing!!!! You will never guess who came and spoke to us!! So I was asked to be in a musical number with 5 other sisters and as we were practicing, the missionary that was playing the piano said, "Ok, so before Sheri Dew talks..." Uh, what did you say? Sheri Dew, like THE Sheri Dew? YUP!! Sheri Dew came and spoke to all of us!!! IT WAS AMAZING!!!! And it was a little nerve racking too cause we had to sing for her!! But it went SO well! Wow, that women is amazing. The theme basically for her talk was "Live your life with the help of Heaven." How cool is that? And she talked about the grace of God and how we can use it and recognize it in our lives. The Zwicks spoke too and it was so bittersweet because it was the last time they would talk to us, so they both bore their testimonies. I don't think I have ever felt the Spirit so strong in my whole life. I will forever remember the feelings I had in that meeting, I wish you all could have been there to feel it. This church is true! I can't get over it!!! Afterwards we all went to the Mission Home for lunch!! And what do you know, Sheri Dew came too!! After we ate, she was sitting on the couch and who would want to miss an opportunity like that?? So me, Hna Van Kammen and Partridge all went up and talked to her! She kept asking us questions about the mission and how we felt and what we were learning and all that stuff and after she's like, lets just have a group hug!! AH!! I was in a group hug with Sheri Dew!!!! Hahaha my life is made. But really, the whole experience was incredible. And I am going to miss the Zwicks SO much. They are probably some of the most amazing people I have ever met and have done miracles for this mission. I'm so sad they're leaving but our new president is coming tomorrow!! Woo!! We didn''t get home from the meeting til about 7:30 at night because it's about a 3 hour drive!

So yesterday we were supposed to just get our groceries and email, but when we went to the library to write it was closed!! I was so sad haha, but I know Heavenly Father has his reasons, here's why :) So since the library was closed we went over to one of our newest investigators we had just taught a couple days before, but when we got there she said that she was just about to leave (we are going back saturday though, don't worry!) so we had a decision to make. We could contact where we were, or we could go visit a lady we had contacted and talked to the week earlier, about a 10, 15 minute walk. We decided to go visit the lady we had talked to, and we are SO glad we did! When we first talked to her last week, her daughter (16) hadn't been living with her for over a year because of some reasons and that week she was going to see if her daughter would be able to move back in with her. When we went to go visit her yesterday, her daughter was there!!! So that was a miracle in itself!! And they were going to leave in about an hour, which means we had just enough time to teach the Restoration!! :) So we did, and oh my goodness. The lesson went so well!! They are so receptive, especially the daughter!! She was so excited to meet us and wants to know more about the scriptures and the gospel and how she can change, because she said that she wants to come closer to God!! Haha Hna Sosa and I just sat there, what is happening?! This is great! The ward is having a church "movie night" tomorrow night so we are taking her to it! GAH! Heavenly Father knows everything!!! Hna Sosa and I were talking afterwards and if we didn't go there at that time, we wouldn't have gotten a hold of them!

Oh guess what?! The Elders brought us a car!! Haha well, we can only use it for meetings, like meetings for the mission or district meetings in other areas! But hey, that's good enough for me!! Haha anyway, I'm out of time! A little update on the Spanish though, I have been able to understand a lot more this week which has been awesome!! My speaking still is no where near perfect haha but I'm doing better at forming sentences and I'm trying to legit force myself to talk to people haha but I am so grateful for the opportunity to learn it!!

Love,
Hermana Holt

Hermana Partridge and I at the mission home

Our feet after walking in the rain-Gross!

our new baby Roxy

driving from the meeting

taking the scenic route home

more from our drive

Sheri Dew the most amazing speaker ever

Week 12: My First Baptisms!

Guess what......... I HAD MY FIRST 2 BAPTISMS THIS PAST WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Juan and Celines were baptized on Saturday and it was AWESOME!!!!!!!!! I honestly can't even describe how it feels, to see someone accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to make that covenant. AH!! The church is true!!!! I wish all of you could get to know them, they are SO great!! The week was kind of crazy helping them prepare and working with the ward to have a baptism, but the Lord was definitely in charge, and now they are both members of the church!! I just can't thank Heavenly Father enough for giving me and my companion the opportunity to teach them and to see how the Gospel changes lives. Later that night after the baptism, Celines called us to tell us how great she feels and that at the moment she was reading the Book of Mormon!! Ahhh my heart melted!!! She is seriously such a sweetheart. And it's so awesome too because her dad has a hard time seeing, so she reads to him from the Book of Mormon every day. These 2 are such gems! And their confirmation was so special too, they were both completely elated after they received the Holy Ghost, and both of them explained how they could feel it so powerfully. What an awesome weekend it was for sure here in San Sebastian!!! 

So this week we received a call from a lady who lives right next to one of our investigators and she said that she wanted us to come visit her!! Haha ok? We thought it was a lady that we have talked to several times who lives across the street from our investigator, but when we went to her house she said that she didn't call us! Haha umm alright? So she told us to walk down the street to another house where this lady lived, and ask her. So we did, and it turns out she's the one that called us! And we didn't even know her!! She is an older lady who lives by herself and someone had told her that the missionaries would come visit her so she called us!! Hahaha she is so awesome!! She is Catholic but she says that a lot of her extended family is Mormon..... :) YES! Haha so we are definitely going to work hard with her! And it was so funny because when we started sharing our little message she looked at me and said, I don't even know where but I really think I've seen you before! You just have that familiar face!! Hahaha so Hna Sosa told her that we were probably all best friends in the Premortal life hahaha great way to start a lesson right??

 So this last Pday one of the ladies in our ward took us hiking to some underground caves!! SO cool!! We had to hike about an hour or so to the first one which was a bit smaller and you actually had to slide down into a little hole to get inside!! Haha when I first looked at it I thought, no way. I'm not doing it!! But I'm so glad I did!! Haha and it seriously was like a Harry Potter moment, it looks so small from the outside and then you get in and it's HUGE!! The other one was absolutely massive and went super far back into the mountain!! I have a couple pictures so I'll try and send those.  

This week was a little rough for some of our other investigators though, it's hard when they don't keep commitments! The family with the teenage kids, the kids always happen to be gone when we have an appointment, and when they are there, they don't stay the whole lesson. It's a bit hard, but, we keep working with them! Always follow up, right?! But the Lord always blesses us with tender moments too! We taught our other family this week too, the family with 4 little kids, and the first miracle was, her boyfriend actually joined us for the lesson!!! Woo!! Baby steps!! So we took the opportunity and talked about the family and then all of the sudden, out of the blue, my companion starts talking about the law of chastity!!! Hahaha which is good but I had no idea!! So I let her do her thing (she is such an amazing and bold missionary) and they actually took it alright and they want to talk about what they want to do! So we'll see when we visit them this week! But it was so cute because we asked if we could do a kneeling prayer, so all 4 little kids and those parents knelt down with us in a circle and I was the one who got to say the prayer!! It was such an awesome moment!! Really, the mom has SUCH a desire to know and to change, we are just praying for her boyfriend to feel the same way.  

One of my funny moments this week, we were at Juan and Celines's house and we were just talking when all of the sudden I see this HUGE tarantula out of the corner of my eye!!!!! Luckily it was on the other side of the room but I about lost it!! Haha spiders are really my biggest fear!! Literally the whole time I kept eyeing it, scared that if I turned for a second it would jump off the wall and attack me hahaha but guess what happened!! So we had to say the prayer and I don't think I've ever been more scared during a prayer hahahaha but guess what happened when I opened my eyes?? It was GONE!!!! Yeah, I kinda freaked out a little hahaha but it's all good! 

Hna Sosa and I have been studying prayer this week and man, I am SO glad we did!! Wow, prayer is absolutely amazing!! We have the opportunity WHENEVER we want, to talk to the most powerful being, our Heavenly Father. How incredible!! But more than that, we studied how we need to pray. I wish I wrote down the quote but President Hinckly said in Preach My Gospel that a lot of people treat prayer as if they are calling a store and ordering groceries, that we are not putting actual effort in. Wow, bold right? But it really made me think, how am I saying my prayers? Am I really being sincere? Am I really thanking Him enough? Or am I just asking and asking and asking and that's it? And something that I absolutely LOVE in Preach My Gospel is that it says that we need to pray with real intent, meaning that we are COMMITTED to act upon the answers and impressions we receive. WOW! Think about that. When we ask for something, are we just asking and expecting it to happen? Or are we actually doing something about it? Remember faith without works is dead, and that when we press forward and show Heavenly Father that we are ready to act, He is then able to guide us. How grateful I am for the experiences I've had this week!! And especially for the opportunity I've had to try and pray ever so sincerely. It's powerful, I testify of that!! 

Well, until next week! The Spanish is still coming slowly but surely haha. And it kind of stinks because now that we are at the end of a transfer (oh my goodness I've finished my first transfer!!!!) I'm no longer the newbie missionary! Hahaha I have no excuse!! Haha no just kidding, but really! Everyday I think I improve a little bit more, but I still have a long way to go!! Have a great week everyone!!!  

Love, 

Hermana Holt

2 months down 

 our investigator's 100 year old dad

our backyard friend

Hermana Sosa's amazing food               baptism invite

Celines

baptism of Juan and Celines

 the sister's with Juan and Celines

CCM sisters

Holt, Gallardo, VanKammen, Madrigal, Partridge

 Elder Zwick's son spoke at our conference

one hour hike to the caves

looks tiny

bigger than I thought    

                                     

 I made it

I'm a missionary

Mayaguez Stake Center

scary bridge that moves when you walk on it

Crazy rain                                                 Let it rain 

my zone

beauty in the front

crazy fast driving and terror in the back

our mission leader's large turtles

holding it in my white skirt