Week 25: Hola Juana Diaz

Hola a todos! Well, here I am writing from the beautiful pueblo of Juana Diaz!! Wow, this week has felt so long haha not sure why! So this is how the changes went. Basically, leaving San Sebastian was a lot harder than I thought it would be! And since we basically had one day to say our goodbyes, it was a lot of tears and way too fast. And even though I was actually super sad to leave, it's been super exciting with the change! So, Tuesday afternoon, I got picked up by the Sister Trainers, Hermana Boaz and Hermana Ramos and we headed for the Mission Office! When we got there we got to see all the newbie missionaries come in which was SO fun to see!! And to think that that was me 5 months ago, how crazy the time has gone!! And it was so funny because Hna Sosa, who had left with other Hnas a lot earlier than me, was at the office too and I got to see her new trainee (my sister!!)! So that was so great!! At the office I met my companion too, Hermana Escobar!!!! She is from Guatemala, has 11 months in the mission, and is SUCH a sweetheart!!!!! Seriously, I love her already and I'm definitely learning a lot!

So, there are 6 missionaries in Juana Diaz now! We live as 4 sisters in a house, us two with the Sister Trainers, and then there are two Elders here in the area as well. So this week has been a little complicated because they have never had 6 missionaries before, it has always been 4. So Hna Escobar and I have been starting from the very beginning, trying to get to know they area and just contacting, contacting, and contacting! We don't have an area book either so we are going to be starting a new one. We also started with the members list and we actually have received a lot of references for less actives, so I'm super excited! So yeah, we don't have any investigators at the moment haha but we are trying our best!! We are putting ALL of our trust and faith in the Lord and we are hoping for more success this coming week! Pues, church was pretty good, not a lot of members but they are all super fun and nice! I had to introduce myself and talk for a few minutes which is always fun haha but it went alright!!

Well, I guess there really isn't anything else to say! We are super excited to be working here because we know that there are people here waiting for the Gospel!! The Church is true everyone!! Have a great week!!

Love,

Hermana Holt

 Elder Alfaro (de California)

Elder Poroj (de Guatamala)

cutting down trees in our yard

 Hermana Boaz and I in front of our tree clippings

 Hermana Ramos with our groceries

 staute that talks about Juana Diaz

 our cute little house

 our sad little bookcase

 the sign for our urbanizacion

 the beautiful city

 Sister trainers: Hermana Boaz (de California) & Hermana Ramos (de Mexico) plus my cute companion Hermana Escobar (de Guatamala)

 our church building

the 3 Kings statue

Week 24: Goodbye San Sebastian!

From our personal letter:

I hope you're on cause guess what... I'M LEAVING SAN SEBASTIAN!! Wooowwwww has it been a crazy couple of days, and emotional!! I am being sent to Juana Diaz, which is right on the beach and aparently one of the hottest places on the Island... ah!! And get this, Hna Sosa is leaving too!!!!! She is going to train in San German. We were super duper worried about our investigators but the missionaries that are coming in to take our place are awesome, so that took a lot of my fear away. Hna Madrigal is staying and Hna Watkins is headed to train near Bayamon. 3 changes mom!! It's been super hard on the ward but we are all just so thankful Madrigal is staying, that will be a big help! Wow, even though it's the hardest thing to leave this stake, this ward, and the people here whom I love so dearly, I have to trust that this next area is where the Lord needs me! I have been praying all week to be calm and have peace when I heard the transfers. And the Lord has been so gracious with me, cause I know that in this situation I would usually be FREAKING out haha (I might be just a tad), but it's been alright. I have complete confidence that the Lord needs me there right now. So my companion is Hermana Escobar and I don't know if I've ever met her and I heard she is from Guatemala so that's super exciting! I leave tomorrow so next weeks letter is going to be super fun to read :) Wish me luck, I'm gonna need it!

Letter to all:

Hola todo! Well, this is the moment that us missionaries have been waiting for all week.. I'm leaving to JUANA DIAZ!! Haha this weekend was absolutely insane because we were supposed to hear about the transfers Saturday afternoon.. and they didn't have them. So then they were going to call us that night.. and they didn't have them!! So we had to wait ALL Sunday, and they didn't call til about 9 or so! Haha if you have been a missionary, you might know that it is a little bit more difficult to have patience with the transfers! Anyway, we were at the Stake Presidents house when they called to let us know and we all basically started crying right there! Wow! It still hasn't hit my mind that I'm leaving San Sebastian, but it's happening! To be honest, I am super sad to leave, but super excited at the same time! I am just putting all my trust in the Lord that this next area is where I need to be. And really, trying to have that attitude and moving forward with a lot of prayer is definitely helping with the move. And since we've only had one days notice, today has been full of packing and goodbyes, and then after emailing, more packing and goodbyes! But all is well, it is still the work of the Lord no matter where we are or where we go! So tomorrow, I'm off to Juana Diaz!

So, to talk a little bit about this week, things are going well with the investigators. They are super bummed about the changes, but we keep going, right?? Sadly Aurora and Peggy, again, couldn't make it to church.. again.., but Vicente came and he loved it!! It was fast and testimony meeting which was perfect that he was able to hear everyone bear their testimonies! And guess what?! We had a miracle in our ward. So remember our less active family of 7? So for the almost 5 months that we have been here, they have come to our ward I think 3 or 4 times now? So we have been working our absolute hardest with them, they are such a wonderful family! And I'm not sure how much I've explained about them, but the husband is President of the Elders Quorum and everything! So the past couple of times that they've come to church, they've come a little late, left a little early, and they would come in jeans and a t shirt. But, listen to this.. as Hna Sosa and I walk into church, there was the husband in a suit and tie, preparing for Elders Quorum!!!! So we went to go shake his hand and asked him where his family was, because we hadn't seen them. He then told us that he felt that he needed to come early because as President he needs to help prepare for the class and get things ready and that his family was coming in a little bit.. I didn't even know they had another car!!!!!!!!!! Hna Sosa and I couldn't believe it!!!!! And then the rest of the family came, all dressed up and tidy ready for church!!!! It was absolutely amazing and I have a feeling that they are going to be going to church from now on :)

Also, something super exciting happened in our ward this week! Friday night we had a guy come to talk about Geneology and Family History! Apparently, no one in our ward has ever sent names to the temple.. so he came to teach them how! Since there isn't a temple here, it's a little bit different because the memebers aren't as aware of what goes on in the temples and all the temple work. So, to show them how to do it, they used one of the accounts of a lady in our ward - her and her husband just went to the temple and were sealed in the Florida temple last week :) - and she had some names of her ancestors. So the guy should her how to prepare the name for the temple ordinances, and we sent them to the temple! The first names ever to be sent to the temple in the history of San Sebastian!! It was SO incredible to see and the Spirit was so strong, she even started to cry!! I have such a strong testimony of the missionary work that is done inside the temples and beyond the veil! The fact that we can help prepare with the temple ordinances of our deceased ancestors on the computer is just amazing!!! Do family history :)

Hna Watkins asked me the other day why I felt like I was sent to San Sebastian. As I was thinking about it, I'm not sure we always know the exact reason why we are where we are. What is most important is that the Lord has sent us to where we are. I have absolutely loved being here in San Sebastian. I have been able to witness 3 baptisms, the beginning of a change of a ward, the activation of a family, and I was able to spend almost 5 months with a crazy, fun Honduranian!! And to be honest, I can't even say that any of the success we had  was because of me and my companion. Yes, we are instruments in the hands of our Savior, but I know withouth a doubt that it is all because of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. How blessed I am that I have been able to seen the affects of it in the lives of others so early on in my mission! And I still have a long way to go haha! But our future is just as bright as our faith, right? And I have faith that the Lord is going to continue leading me to the people who are prepared to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Now why is He now sending me to Juana Diaz? Well, hopefully I will be able to figure that out in these next six weeks :) Wish me luck!! Have a great week everyone!!

Love,

Hermana Holt 

President Arocho and his wife

Sign in the Stake President's house

Week 23: 5 months!





Hola todo! So I don't have a lot of time, but this week was alright! I hit my 5 month mark... can you believe it?? Where has the time gone? And guess what? Transfers are this next week! They let us know Saturday... haha kinda scared but excited too! And sad because Hna Sosa and I know that we will most likely be seperated! But, vamos a ver!

 

Anyway, about our investigators. Sadly at the last minute, Peggy, Vicente, AND Aurora said they couldn't come to church. I literally about cried! But, we keep going! They all said that they will be able to next week, but that's what they said last week haha. Positive thoughts everyone!!! But other than that, the lessons with all 3 of them are just so fun and great, they all really have desires to change and learn more and more! Vicente still isn't drinking coffee, woo!! Even though he said he has gotten more headaches haha.. but all is well! We have had more members come and visit Aurora which I know is helping her in receiving her answer. Saturday night we went over to Peggy and Vicentes to make dinner! Hna Sosa made what she calls Baleadas, which is a food from Hondurus, super good! So it was fun to just bond with them!

We had some of the other people we are teaching drop us.. but we have been blessed with Ismael!! So I kinda got the names mixed up last week, oops! Ivan is Ismael haha, his friend's name is Ivan! Sorry! Anyway, our lesson with him Wednesday was incredible! I didn't even know what to say! Since he can't see, he is so receptive to the Spirit. At the end of the lesson he just told us, there is something different. He said that he can feel it and just feels that it's true. It was awesome!!! But, sadly, he works Sundays. Gah! So we'll have to work with that too!!

That's all I have time for, love you all! Have a great week everyone!! Be excited to hear about transfers!! :)

Love,

Hermana Holt

 

 

 

 5 month mark

 

 So excited to hit 5 months

 

 Making dinner at Peggy's

 

 fruit from a generous neighbor

 

 How my companion cooks

 

Surprise visit from Sister Howell before she heads back to Utah

Week 22: Hermana Sosa's feeling 22

Hola todo!! Well, on to the week! Things are going well with our 3 progressing investigators!! Even though Aurora and Peggy couldn't make it to church yesterday...gahhh.... Vicente came!!! He is so awesome!! And I think he liked it! This past week we taught the Word of Wisdom with them and it went super well! Peggy doesn't have any problems with it obviously, but Vicente drinks coffee. And has soon as we finished with the lesson he told us that he will not be drinking it anymore! Talk about determination!! And it was so funny haha cause the moment he got to church, the first thing he said was, I didn't drink coffee this morning!! Woo! They are so great. And Peggy expressed to us that she feels like she has received an answer. Progress!! Hermana Sosa and I are SO excited! With Aurora, she absolutely loves what we are teaching her and always reads and everything and has the biggest desire to receive an answer, but says she still hasn't yet. "But I go forward with faith!" she says, which is the perfect attitude! She wants to see a baptism before hers though.. so we are coordinating with the Elders of our District because they should have a baptism this week. Vamos a ver!

So, I have two more names to share with you guys! One is Ivan! Ivan is someone that we contacted and we've already taught him twice this week! He is almost blind, so with the Book of Mormon it can be hard, but he listens really well and takes everything in. When we talked about the Priesthood he was super interested also and has a desire to know! We are planning on bringing him to church this week!

The other is Janis. Janis's husband is actually the cousin of Hno Nunez (the member who lives above us), so family! Woo! But her husband Edgaurdo always happens to be out of the house when we are there.. but Janis is so awesome! She has a little bit of confusion with all the different churches and people who claim to be prophets, so this was a little bit hard for her to grasp when we taught the Restoration. But when we talked about the Book of Mormon, she seemed super interested to know and promised she would read it! So we'll see what happens with these two investigators this week! We're excited!

Also, our inactive family came to church again this week!! We ran into both the mom and the dad throughout the week and so we reminded both of them of church this Sunday! There are no coincidences ;) And, we also have a lesson planned with them this week. They are so great! And they speak English so that’s always great too :)

Well, it rained like CRAZY this week!! Which it hasn't done in a while so that was a surprise haha. Also, Hna Sosa turned 22 this week!! Woo!! Saturday night we had dinner, cake, and ice cream with the Nunez's! Super fun! Things are going good with the ward, Hna Sosa and I were actually able to have more member lessons this week which was so great! And also, a couple in our ward went to Florida this week to get their endowments and be sealed in the temple :) They have only been members for about 4 years or so, and are so awesome! Super strong in the Gospel! So everyone in the ward has been talking about that!! How us missionaries and the members here long for a temple in Puerto Rico!! But I know that as we work hard here, members and missionaries together, one day the Lord will bless us with a temple in Puerto Rico!! Talk about motivation, right?! Yay for missionary work! Have a great week everyone!

Love,
Hermana Holt

Week 21: SNAKE!

Hola todo!!

Well, this week I can honestly say I don't even know where to start haha. I have good news, I have bad news, and I have crazy/scary stories!! And for some reason, I'm not sure why, but this week has gone by a lot slower.. but all is well!! I think it felt slower because this week was full of meetings! Tuesday we had a Zone Conference and then this past weekend was Stake Conference, which we had to attend both Saturday and Sunday. And then Stake Center is about an hour away in car so there was a lot of traveling involved! These meetings were amazing though! I feel so grateful to have such amazing zone leaders and also stake leaders! President and Hermana Boucher joined us Sunday as well as Elder Cornish, who is the Area 70 for the Caribean. He is awesome!!

So I guess I'll start with the bad news.. actually it's just a lot more surprising! So I'm pretty sure I told you about that family last week? The mom and 3 kids? Well we had an appointment with them Thursday and Wednesday night the daughter texted us saying that the mom didn't want us to come anymore. Huh? What happened!! She then tried to explain to us why, but we couldn't understand her texts so Hna Sosa called her and the daughter put the mom on the phone - I'm not sure what all she said, but it looks like we won't be teaching them anymore. I am so crushed!!!! We both are! Especially because we have no idea what happened. It was so out of the blue. But, I'm just praying that sometime in the future they will accept missionaries again!

But, Heavenly Father is definitely part of this work because we still have 3 progressing investigators (Peggy, Vicente, and Aurora) who are doing well!! Reading and praying and everything. They couldn't attend Stake Conference because of the distance but we are really really really praying for this Sunday! We have moved all of their baptisms to the 20th of September and they are all willing to work for that date. Only Vicente says he has recieved a specific answer, so we'll see how this week goes. I know going to church will make a big difference! Haha oh my goodness and guess what? Peggy was so excited when we taught her this week because she says, look what our TV has!! And then she pulls up the Mormon Channel! With all the videos and talks and the scriptures and everything! Haha she was SO excited and of course so were we!! So we watched some Mormon Messages :) My favorite!!

So, are you ready for this story? You are not going to believe it! But it happened!! So, we were driving back from Mayaguez (where the Stake Center is) and we were just silently listening to the music when Hna Sosa screams "CULEBRA!!!" (snake)! So I'm looking outside the front window obviously haha thinking uhh where? How could she have seen a snake? When all of the sudden, lo and behold there was a snake outside Hna Sosa's window wrapped around the sideview mirror!! And it was HUGE and LONG!!!!! Hahaha so of course we all start screaming our heads off (Hna Sosa had already unbuckled her seat belt and was half way in my lap hahaha) and I couldn't stop the car because there were tons of cars! So I just screamed TAKE A PICTURE, so you guys would have evidence haha, but after about a minute of screaming and Hna Madrigal struggling for the camera, the snake fell off the mirror into the street!!! Wow. Haha I still can't believe it happened. I still get chills! But really! It was SO big!! And so long and so gross and so close to us!! Luckily Hna Sosa didn't have the window open because it totally would have got into the car!! Now, how did it get there? Yeah, that's been our question all week haha! So I guess the members who live above us weren't kidding when they said check the car for snakes.. we'll be a lot more cautious the next time!  

Well, that's all I can think of right now. My companion hit her 1 year mark this week and we celebrated with some delicious gluten free cake :) And her birthday is next week so we'll be celebrating all over again! Things are good here in San Sebastian, the sun is hitting us super hard here that's for sure! And then, I think of the Arizona heat and then I can't even complain :) I hope all is going well with everyone!! Saludos de Puerto Rico!!

Love,

Hermana Holt

Yo, Madrigal, Watkins, Sosa


un año

Week 20: Designated driver

 Hola todo!!

Wow, a lot of walking this week. Haha a lot of walking this week, BUT it was a good one because we extended baptismal dates... to a family! Finding families in the mission is basically Christmas haha, especially if they are receptive! So I might have mentioned them last week, but I'm not sure. The mom's name is Migdalia and she has 3 awesome kids, Shakira who is 13, JessMarie who is 11, and Edwin who is 8 (all baptism age :) haha). The first time we met them was just a getting to know them and explaining a little bit of what we teach as missionaries, and right off the bat the kids were so excited, especially when we gave them the Restoration pamphlets! After we had left, made an appointment, and passed the house later again that day, Shakira was outside answering the questions at the back of the pamphlet!! So we went back to their house this past week and taught them the Restoration and it went SO well! Haha I thought so! We had little activities for the kids to help them pay attention so it wasn't too boring for them :) And as we were talking the mom said how she just feels something different when we talk. She had told us too that she had taken a lot of different classes from different churches which has left her a little confused! So as the lesson finished, my amazing companion said the baptismal invitation and all of them accepted!! Like what?! So we are hoping and praying that all will continue to go well with them! They weren't able to make it to church yesterday, and now it's a little complicated this week because we have Stake Conference at the Stake Center which is an hour away in car... so I'm not sure how many investigators we will have at church this next week.. but we'll see!

Speaking of investigators at church, Aurora came!! We haven't had a lot of success with investigators attending church so this was huge!! And since this was the first time she has attended church, we are going to have to push her baptism date back a little bit, but really, she is so awesome. She reads from the Book of Mormon every day and has been praying hard to know if it's true! Little by little I know she'll know. So we were SO glad when she came to church because that's so essential as well. We have 2 appointments with her this week and she is hoping to go to Stake Conference too! 

Ohh Peggy and Vicente. Haha I love them so much, they are hilarious. But sadly, again, they couldn't make it to church... gah! So we will have to push their baptismal date back too. And also, because of Peggy's health they can't make it to Stake Conference. But all is well!! I really love the lessons with them because the Spirit is always there! And since she has a computer we watch Mormon Messages and other videos with her which are SO powerful! And of course since it's in English it makes it that much more fun haha! But really, one of the hardest things here in my mission is getting people to come to church!! A lot of people here have such a desire to come closer to God and have TONS of faith, but they don't act on it. And helping them change that is the hard part. But, as missionaries we just keep going!

So guess what?? I have been assigned as the "designated driver" of our area!! Oh my goodness driving the car was so nice haha I kinda miss it! I sent a picture of us 4 in the car, and don't worry haha that is not how I actually drive, that's just how I feel!! :) Oh and listen to this!! A while back we were teaching a lady who had been taught by the Jehovah's Witnesses and we kept stopping by and she was never there. I was SO sad because I thought she had potential!! So it's been about 2 or 3 weeks since we had seen her and we were walking in the rain when a car came up and it was her!! She offered us a ride!! And then she was saying, I am so sorry I've been so busy and haven't been home but you guys are welcome to come back and teach me! So we have an appointment Tuesday :) AH!! I about died!! 

Well, we were able to teach new investigators for the first time this week so hopefully next week there will be new names for you guys to read :) All is well here in San Sebastian, it's hard at times, but that's the mission! I can't believe it's already the 3rd week of the transfer.. where is the time going?? My dear companion hits her 1 year mark this Thursday... party!! Haha love you all!!

Love, 

Hermana Holt

I'm the new designated driver

Wow! It feels so good

Week 19: Just keep teaching!

Hola todo!!

So, this week! It started off a little sad because Tuesday morning we had to send off Hermana Howell! She was transfered to Saint Kitts! And Hermana Madrigals new companion wasn't coming in until Wednesday (because she was in Saint Kitts) and so guess what happened Tuesday? TRIO!! Haha oh my goodness. So fun!! A little different, and a little hard because we had to try and get as many of both of our investigators in as we could, but it was SO great! So wednesday, Hermana Watkins came in and oh my goodness she is hilarious! She's from California and has been out in her mission 7 months, but has been in the island the whole time! And the island speaks English!! So we are in the same boat together continuing to learn the language together!

So onto the investigators!! Aurora - we are trying our best to try and teach her more than once throughout the week to help her continue to progress, but we can only get a hold of her once a week, so we work with that! Sadly she couldn't make it to church..... but she has been diligently reading the Book of Mormon and loves it! We asked her to read the Intro to the BofM and she had underlined words she didn't know and wrote down questions to help her to understand! We have to teach the lessons in parts because she always has SO many questions, but she has such a desire to know it's amazing!! However.. she needs to come to church! So we are praying and praying that she will be able to this next week. But she is doing great!

Peggy and Vicente - Peggy got super sick this week so we were only able to teach her once and she wasn't able to make it to church either. But listen to this!! So, first, we had intercambios (exchanges) this week for the first time in a while apparently! I guess the sisters haven't had them a lot in their mission. But anyway, I was paired with Hermana Brotherson who is from Utah and has only about a month left in her mission! She is the best!! But to be honest, I was kinda freaking out for these intercambios haha being the "leader" I guess you could say for the day. But wow, I loved it!! I learned so much and I actually gained a lot more confidence in myself with my Spanish haha since she made me do a lot of the talking. Anyway, so we stopped by Peggys and her daughter answered saying that she has sleeping and was still super sick. So, we started walking to our next lesson which was a good 25 min or so walking distance. Once we got there, they weren't there either!! Gah!! But then, Hna Sosa called me and said, where are you guys?! Uhh working? Haha apparently, her and Hna Gomez (her companion for the day) had passed by Peggys house and Peggy had just woken up and heard that we stopped by and so she freaked out saying, are they coming back to teach me?! Hahaha so we basically sped walked back to Peggy's house and taught a great lesson in English about 3 Nephi 11 :) She has such a desire to know and has been reading as well! So we are hoping her health gets better so that she is able to come to church!! It's SO crucial!

Anyway, sadly our other investigators have dwindled which has been really hard on Hna Sosa and I. But, we contacted a pueblo we haven't gone to yet, (it's a walk haha but it's worth it) and found some great people to teach! So we have a lot of lessons to teach this week and we are praying all goes well!! Sorry I can't write more!! I love you all and have a great week!! :)

Love,

Hermana Holt

 Mayaguez zone conference

pretending to eat a bug

 too close for comfort

 I can't do it