Transfers!

Hey All!

We got transfer calls last night and......................... I'll be going to the Cerritos Stake to the Lakewood Ward! I will be finishing training Sister Biberston, she has already been out for 6 weeks. Sister Sherksnas's new comp is going to be Sister Rhoton, my MTC companion!!!!

It has been such a blessing and a privilege to serve in the Beach ward! I have absolutely loved it- it's definitely the promised land! It has also been a very humbling and joyful experience to have trained Sister Sherksnas. 

On Monday, we went to this super hipster burger place called bunz that's right next to a Vans skatepark, it was sooo good!

Tuesday, we saw Araceli and set a baptismal date with her! She says she thinks that what we are teaching is true, she is concerned about the fact that she has been raised Catholic and her whole family is, so we asked her to pray to know what God wanted her to do. We did some service for an investigator named Shirley, she's an older lady who can't get around too well anymore. She hasn't been able to even put sheets on her bed for months so we went over and helped with that stuff...

Wednesday, we had an amazing training from Elder Oniki, one of our Zone Leaders, about daily planning, and how it should be guided by the spirit more. We tried that out and saw miracles!!! Just later that day, we were trying to see an investigator that we hadn't been able to catch for a while. She wasn't home, but we saw this girl walking home from school and we followed her (in a not creepy way). As we did this we saw 2 ladies sitting on their porch and Sister Sherksnas felt prompted to go and see them first, before we went to see the girl. We started talking to the ladies about how families can be together forever; that we don't believe that death has to part families. Wendy, one of the women, said that she was just talking about that with her fiancée, about what happens to their marriage after they die, it was perfect! God is so good!

We also saw Alisa that day and we set a baptismal date with her! She has been trying to figure out for a while if this was true, she knew it made her feel good, but there was something keeping her back... after attending church last week she felt confident to make the next step! We are so happy for her!

That night, we had one of our last lessons with Gabriel, because he is moving to Oregon for a couple months to be with his kids... we are sad to see him go but he hasn't seen his babies for over 7 months so we are happy for him.

On Thursday, we had a lesson with Johnny and his wife joined and we committed both of them to read the Book of Mormon, Rosario said it is hard for her in English so we got her a Spanish copy. I am so grateful for all the resources the Church offers for every person to learn about the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ! That evening, we also met with Andy, a less-active member, and her husband, Chino, joined in. Chino is not a member, but he is a Christian. He is the nicest, coolest guy and he seems to have a real desire to know if the Book of Mormon is true. This family has so much potential, I am excited for them!

Friday, we had a talk with Sister Demol, Mandy and Kerry. It seems Mandy and Kerry's stepdad is not too thrilled with them being baptized all of a sudden.... We will see how the next few weeks go...

Saturday, we had another miracle in finding Chuck, a new investigator! We were on our way to another person’s house and I got distracted and turned too soon... well it was a super blessing in disguise because we found ourselves in the neighbourhood where we had met a guy the week before named Domingo. So we decided to see if he was home, he wasn't, but his roommate Chuck was! We had the opportunity to answer some of his questions concerning the Plan of Salvation, he took a pamphlet and said he would read it and we could come back and talk more about it with him next week.

Also the Phillips made us poutine for dinner!!! yay!!!! it was super yummy. They even got cheese curds!

On Sunday we had another lesson with our good friend Hamilton. He had a lot of questions for us, mostly they were about what we thought about doctrine, etc. We were able to testify to him that they best way he can have his questions answered is by reading the Book of Mormon! 

Later, we had our last lesson with Gabriel :( He leaves Tuesday morning, but we found where his ward is and got his info for our ward mission leader so he can stay in touch with him and help him figure things out!

The church is true! I know it is with all of my heart, soul, and mind. I am so glad I have been called to serve here in the California Long Beach mission, to tell anyone and everyone that Jesus is the Christ! He is the Redeemer, the Messiah, the Saviour, and my brother. I love him and I will labour unceasingly to serve him, and my Heavenly Father.

Sister Holt

ps we also spent about an hour one night trying to get this kitten out of a less-active member’s car! It was definitely an experience, but we got him! Now we have to find him a home!