Excuse Me!

Hello friends!

This week was really great! Biggest miracle: we had 5 investigators at church yesterday!!!!!! There was also about 5 or 6 members we have been working with who came, it made me sooo happy :) we regularly have about 25 ysa at church, this week we almost had 40!!! 

After church we also got to go to a baprism with Carlos, it was really beautiful and I think he liked it a lot! Afterwards, Steven, a member in our ward, invited the 3 of us to his house for dinner! It was awesome:) 

Another highlight happened at church! During the second speaker, a little boy about 5 years old walks into the chapel. He starts wandering up the side of the room... I was pretty sure he was just gonna make a loop and then leave... nope. He walked right up to the pulpit, to the high councilman who was speaking and said "Excuse me! Can I have the key to the office? I want some candy. My friends always get candy and I've never gotten any!" It was so good. Hahahah the high councilman just said "you know what, I've never gotten any candy either!" Oh man, it was great! 

I also sang in sacrament meeting, so that was fun :) 

Last Monday, we played some volleyball for FHE,  we had a less active member and an investigator come, which was awesome! It was really great to watch Carlos make some friends! 

On Friday we also did a "Meet the Mormons" movie night with the ward. 

Tomorrow I get to go to the Temple! So I'm excited for that, but there are definitely going to be a lot of "lasts" this week... 

I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be able to serve my Heavenly Father with all of my heart, might, mind, and strength! But most of all, I am grateful to have learned HOW to do that, so I can go home next week and continue to do it! 

I love you so much! The Church is absolutely true! 

Sister Holt 

Another Last

Hello everyone! 

I will try to write more this week, I have been slacking lately! Honestly, one day bleeds into the next, weeks feel pretty much 2 seconds long so it's hard for me to remember exciting details! 

This week started off... kinda poorly actually. On Tuesday we had to discontinue our visits with one of our favorite investigators, it was very sad, but hopefully this break is what he needs to help him continue to progress! 

Later in the evening we met with Carlos though, and he is super awesome so it cheered us up a little! :) he is very open to learning; he met with missionaries like 7 years ago and wants to come to church! We are excited to work with him.

Wednesday, we had zone conference...my last one :( it was kinda weird... it still doesn't feel real and I guess it probably won't until I step on the plane... i didn't even win basketball! I don't if I ever mentioned this, but we always play speed at zone conference... and I've always lost haha not really surprising...

This week we have been super blessed to be able to meet a lot of less-active members who are willing to come back to church! That's actually one of the things we talked about at zone conference; how there are 3 ways people typically get "lost" from God's fold. There are those who wandered away like sheep without even realizing it, some who were lost without it really being there fault, and those who rebel. I'm pretty sure it's in Luke 15 where we read about he parables that go with that. Well anyways, we happen to have met a few great "wandering sheep" members this week :) 

Saturday we only had one lesson scheduled, in the evening... which is super weird.  So we decided to go do some walking, stopping by some potentials... We walked for like 3 or 4 hours all around Pico Rivera! About half way through, this very nice man offered us some lemons from his tree... he then insisted I take more haha so then I was walking around with about 15 pamphlets, 2 books of Mormon and about 10 lemons... Don't tell my chiropractor lol. Also that morning was "arm day" which is really more like "shoulder day" when you don't have any weights so.... yeah I was pretty sore the next day. 

Sunday was lovely! No investigators came to church (sad face) but some members we have been working with did! Last night we had an awesome lesson with 3 roommates we teach, we had member come with us and we read the book of Mormon and kinda had like a testimony meeting, it was really cool. 

Well, I sure love you all! The church is true! Make good choices! 

Sister Holt 

Teach Repentance...

Hello family! 

 Last Tuesday morning we tried some college campus contacting, it didn't work out so well. There was nobody on the campus. Literally. But, we will try again! Things are pretty great here in the Mar Vista YSA ward! 

 this Sunday we had three friends that we are teaching at church. Julius, Ben, and Hannah. It was really wonderful to have them there. Ben even brought a friend. 

 We also found 4 new friends to teach this week. Two of them are Carlos and Jesus. Carlos was a referral from the Colima Elders, and Jesus was a pass off from the Spanish Elders. They're both really wonderful. We're excited to work with them. They seem super open.

We got to do a little bit of studying outside this week, which was wonderful! I love the sunshine, I love that it is February and it is 85 degrees outside! You can't beat that! 

 We also had a really wonderful lesson with Gabriel this week. He said that he wants to work a little bit harder at reading and praying and coming to church! And he wants to prepare himself to be baptized later this month.

 I'm so grateful for every opportunity I have to serve those who God has brought into my life. It seems like there's another person just waiting to receive the Gospel around every corner.  As soon as I think "surely we must have found everybody," we find another one! & I love that. I know God is preparing His children to receive the Gospel. The Church is true!

Sister Holt 

Last Exchange!

Hello all! Another fantastic week of finding and teaching!

Some highlights from this week were: Great lesson through Facebook with Evan, teaching Hannah, Julius and Ben; our friends who attend biola university. We also found 5 new people to teach this week which is awesome!

Thursday night we also went to go see a less active member and he invited us in to play board games haha we had another member with us and it was great :) he said it was a fun "Mormon party" and his friends never want to play board games with him, so we are going back next week with more members!

Saturday I went on my last exchange in Whittier with Sister Foster! It was sad, but super good. Exchange's were done at 6 pm so we got to teach a couple more lessons before the end of the night. 

Sunday was Stake Conference! Again haha. We got to see a great broadcast ( which you probably all saw as well.) I loved the message of hope and endurance it shared. I especially loved the counsel to "lift where you stand," and to do what you can, and do it cheerfully! 

Today Sister Herrera and I started off the morning going to a free Zumba class, cause, why not? I don't think I have ever sweat so much in my life! It was really hard... and then at noon we went on a hike with the zone... so I am very tired and gross. 

I love you a lot! 

Sister Holt 

Poutine!

Hello family! 

We started a new transfer this week, which is absolutely crazy! 

Last Monday we took Sister Hicks to the Mission Home for her departure dinner and she was gone the next morning! Slightly nauseating to think that will be me in 5 weeks. 

Tuesday morning I had a really special experience as I started "myplan", and as I reflected over the things I have learned on my mission. I was just so touched to recognize the daughter of God that I have become and the divine worth I have finally realized as I have laboured as His servant. I don't know what I would do without all of this. 

I want to share my testimony of this work and of the Gospel, but words cannot adequately describe the feelings of my heart. So instead I will offer this invitation: go experience it for yourself. That is the only way to know what it is like. Pray often, study the scriptures; ancient and modern, fast, repent. 

This week we did a lot of teaching! Kinda like most other weeks haha but we spent even more time with members this week, most of them members who we don't see at church so often. We need to help these beloved children of God feel the love we and Heavenly Father have for them! This week we will be going back to see many of those brothers and sisters, but this time with other members:) 

We also found 4 really great new investigators! This area just has so much potential! I wish they could have 6 missionaries in this ward! We would probably up the sacrament attendance by 50% if we did that haha and that would be awesome. 

Last night I made poutine for Sister Herrera and myself and it was SO GOOD. 

As for the rest of the week, we've just been trying our very hardest to find, teach, and baptize! 

Love you much! The Church is true! 

Sister Holt 

Alec and Exchanges

Hello all! 

This week we started off Monday night at family home evening, we had an investigator named Julius come and he brought a friend named Ben that we are teaching now, so that was cool! We watched "On the Lord's Errand," a film about Thomas S Monson' s life. It was good :) 

Tuesday we went on exchanges in La Mirada, we found a few potentials, since we cover the whole stake haha. One of the potentials was named Alec and we went back to see him Saturday and he was super open! We taught him the restoration and he accepted an invitation to be baptized. God is so good. I know that He is preparing His children everywhere! No exceptions. Every country, every city, every neighbourhood, every street, every house. All people are being prepared in one degree or another to receive the Gospel! 

Wednesday, we had some lessons with some less active members, so that was nice. We are teaching about 5 less active members right now. 

We actually had a really wonderful experience one evening this week where we were able to be an instrument in the Lord's hand to help comfort one of His children. We were doing some walking late one night (late meaning about 8:30pm) because we didn't have any appointments.  So we were going by some potentials in the area and we felt prompted to go to a home. No one was there but as we were walking back to the car, we walked past a man whose bag of clothes had broken and he was trying to pick it all up. He didn't have room in his arms to carry all of it, we offered to help and he accepted :). We started to walk with him to the bus stop and he began to express to us some of his recent heartache and struggles. He said he was trying to get close to God but things kept getting in the way. I was given the opportunity to bear testimony of the Atonement, share a favourite scripture from Alma 7, and offer a copy of the Book of Mormon to the man. Tears fell from his eyes as he took the gift. We then got his contact info to send missionaries to see him asap. I am so grateful for the privilege I have been given to be the Lord's first responder as his full-time representative. 

Saturday we did our studies and lunch in the park, in the SoCal sun :D it was 85 degrees haha 

Sunday was Stake Conference and Elder Pimentel was here, so that was cool. Afterwards we did some family history work with a recent convert named Justin, and he found a name to take to the Temple! Yay! 

Last night we also got a screw in our tire... yeah so the zone leaders very kindly came and changed it for us haha but I forgot to take a picture... thanks Elder Wright and Elder Shultz! We also found a new investigator named Evan later :) 

Life is good. God is good. The Church is true! 

Ooo! Also on exchanges, Sister Foster and I wrote a poem! 

Roses are red 

Violets are violet 

But the Book of Mormon is blue, so you should read it. 

Lol 

Love you dearly! 

Sister Holt 

This morning when we had to go on a little adventure while our tire was being replaced...

Exchanges with Sisters Foster and Davis.

Blessings!

Hello family! 

This has been another wonderful week of teaching! I feel a little bit bad about just writing about missionary things but I’m going to be honest, the days just kinda all mesh together and I can't separate them too easily haha. Also, it feels like pday was 2 days ago... time is just flying by too quickly! Today I have 50 days left as a full time missionary and that is pretty scary... 

We got to meet with a few more less active members this week! They have agreed to meet with us and start working on coming back to church, so that has been a major blessing! We got to do a little bit of service with one of them for his family, and it was great to get to know him, establish a trust and a friendship. I have found that that can be super key in helping people return, they need a friend first! When they understand that you actually care about them instead of you wanting to boost sacrament meeting attendance, they are a lot more willing and open! 

My highlight was probably Sunday because we had 3 investigators at church and a member we have been teaching named Angel! It was great to see them there and one of our investigators and Angel both bore their testimonies. Eddie technically came after the Sacrament was passed but he stayed for break the fast :) 

We also had a cool opportunity to teach one of our investigators, Ray, over Facebook! It was awesome to be able to follow up on his reading in between our lessons. 

I love this work! I love this gospel! The Church is true :) 

Sister Holt 

P.s. also got to hold a cute puppy haha 

Happy Holidays! Happy Holidays!

Hello everyone! 

Every week is a good week in the California Long Beach Mission, so you can probably guess how this one went! 

This week we found 4 new great investigators, we set baptismal dates with 2 investigators and 2 people came to sacrament meeting, which is really awesome for this area haha we are just seeing the blessings roll in every day. Sometimes we have especially wonderful evenings or lessons and I can't help but think that I am so not worthy to be able to be lucky enough to be a part of this great work! God is so good. 

Last night we got to teach a great new investigator named Roxy. We found her when we went to go look for a different potential. She had moved and Roxy invited us back. As soon as we pulled up she was out of the house, coming down the steps, to greet us; it was definitely refreshing haha. We went on a walk to the park nearby and taught her there. The Spirit was just flowing all around us, guiding Sister Herrera and me as we taught, it was awesome! She said that her friend had recently been baptized and she had told her she needed to do it too, that she would feel so good! I am just so in awe of how perfectly God prepares his children :) 

We also had some awesome lessons with Gabriel, Eddie, and Savanna (our investigators preparing for baptism), and some others. 

Savanna and Eddie came to church this week and stayed after for a baptism! Afterwards, we were walking home with Savanna and she said she felt that it is her time and she is even more excited for her baptism now! 

Last night Sister Herrera and I celebrated New Year’s Eve with the district and junk food haha but Saturday I convinced her to get Chinese food with me! :) the tradition continues unbroken! Even though it was the day before, I'm going to count it haha. 

Today we also went hiking with about half of the zone (the English half), it sucked but also was really great- like most hikes haha 

I love you a lot! I know the Church is true! Faith is the power that makes things happen that need to happen. 

Sister Holt 

Pre New Year's Eve Chinese

New Year's Eve junk food