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