God Is So Good!

Hello!

This week has been another major blessing from the Lord! I love every single minute that I have to serve Him and labour in His vineyard.

Last Monday, we got to see one of our investigators with a baptismal date, Kim, and talk to him about our beloved prophet and the importance of following him. Kim really is so knowledgeable already about the Gospel. Whenever we teach him he always reads whatever material we give him the time before in preparation for lesson so he basically teaches us when we go over! It's really refreshing to teach someone who just GETS it, and he gets it because he has been prepared. His heart has been softened over a period of 65 years to receive this message! That's something I have definitely been thinking about lately; the difference between people who have been prepared, and those who aren't ready. Sometimes, no matter what we do as missionaries, no matter how well we teach and extend commitments and plan and testify, people will still not get the message, for now. 

We also got to go to new missionary follow-up training for Sister Sherksnas! I love going to trainings. Although I know that I am here to minister and not be ministered unto, I really do enjoy getting to hear the powerful motivation, instruction, and testimony given by President Patterson and the assistants, oh and of course Sister Patterson :) I felt that I need to focus more on planning sufficiently to make stuff happen! We plan every day and we do a pretty good job, but there is a difference between good and great! This last weekly planning we took the advice of the assistants and made thorough plans every day to help people come to church. I hope next Sunday we get to see the fruits of our labours, but even if we don't right away, we keep having faith that exact obedience brings miracles! Faith does indeed precede the miracle!

We also got to meet with another one of our investigators with a baptismal date, Karie. She is a really sweet lady. She wants so baldy to change and we (us and Heavenly Father) are going to do all we can to make sure that she can! We have already set goals and made plans with her to help her quit smoking, and set a goal to meet with her at least twice a week to give her strength and continue to help her learn and progress. I really do love her a lot. I love all my investigators in a way I never thought I would. It is truly a humbling experience to get to see their potential through God's eyes.

We also have been meeting with Gabriel almost every day! He has made a pretty fantastic transformation from when we first met with him. He is working so hard to humble himself and put off the natural man. I am so proud of him and his accomplishments, and I know God is too. He accepts God's will without question, just seeking to follow him. I can't wait to see what he does in his lifetime.

God is so good! I can testify that he is preparing people in every country, in every mission, in every area, on every street in the world. God is working with them in their time. He knows exactly who will receive the Gospel and when they will receive it and who will bring it to them. It's up to us to find out how we plan into that and to ACT!

Gabriel's sister is a member, her name is Maria, and she made us the most delicious taquitos! I have never had homemade taquitos, they were soooo good!!! Maria also showed us a really awesome video, a broadcast from an Area Seventy called Christ's Church Blueprint or something??* It was suuuuuper good. I think the guys name was Tad Callister or something? Anyway, try and look it up, it’s the bomb.

On Friday we also felt impressed to go to a specific area where we proselyte and visit some potentials and do some street contacting. As we were doing this we found a young man named Thomas! It was such a blessing to be able to receive revelation from the Lord and to find someone who was being prepared by him. We met with him the day after with Brother Fitzpatrick, a member of our Bishopric, and we discussed the purpose of life! He ended up being 27 so we passed him off to the YSA elders (sadface). I am just so grateful for the plan our Heavenly Father has given us so that we can return to be with Him again! This time on earth is the time for us to prepare to meet God! (no pressure)

So all week long we had been visiting people and texting them reminders about Church, we even saw a bunch of them Saturday night and they all said they would come and we were so excited, and then Sunday came and...nothing. We even called some of them in the morning to wake them up and remind them and still no one came. I was pretty disappointed and I sat in Sacrament meeting thinking, what more could I have done? As Bishop Ravsten bore his testimony of how "faith precedes the miracle" I received my answer. It's not about what more I needed to do (in this particular circumstance). It was about what God could do. I needed to have Faith in His power and His ability. After all we can do, people still get to choose, even though that's super frustrating sometimes!

Sunday evening we had a stake missionary fireside and it was so amazing! The spirit was so strong and we did have an investigator, Karie, come to that! Our zone even sang a song at the end, and it wasn't too shabby if I do say so myself! All in all a great week :)

Love you dearly,

Sister Holt

*Link to Elder Tad R. Callister's talk, What is the Blueprint of Christ's Church?
What is the Blueprint of Christ's Church?

Let's see, we've got a picture of a lizard,a dude getting arrested and this sketch hotel we were teaching someone at... the moon :) the sunset :) oh and also it got to 35 degrees this week!  So that was sweet!

Gabriel

Hello!

Another fantastic week here in the California, Long Beach mission!

This week we got to meet with one of our new investigators, Gabriel, every day! He is progressing really, really well! At first when we were teaching him, it seemed like he might be mostly looking into it to see why his sister, Maria, left the Catholic Church. We have been really blessed to see his heart be softened almost overnight. He knows this is the right time for him and that the Gospel of Jesus Christ can help him make the changes he wants to make in his life. He's really amazing and I am so happy that Heavenly Father is letting me be a part of his conversion process.

This week we also had a sad thing happen; we had to stop seeing one of our investigators. This person has been meeting with missionaries for a long time and has told us that she doesn't want to convert and she doesn't want to change her life, she just likes to have us over. It's probably one of the hardest things I have had to do on my mission; drop someone I love. Our purpose as missionaries is to "teach repentance and baptize converts." We have to make sure that everything we do is working towards that purpose, although it might inconvenience us or make us uncomfortable, we're not here for us. We're here to "find those that will receive [us]." Some people just aren't ready when we think they should be, and that's fine because God knows when their time will come. We have to keep loving them and nurturing the seed that has been planted until it is their time. There's a scripture that talks about "continuing to minister"... but I don’t remember where it is, sorry! But anyways, don't give up just because it’s not someone’s time yet. Concentrate your efforts on those who are, but don't forget about the other guys! You never know when it'll be their turn!

We also did some service at this museum of Westminster. We sorted and displayed some hundred year old dolls, so that was pretty fun!

We also got to see 2 investigators we haven't been able to meet with for a couple of weeks! Karie has been sick, but her baptism is coming up soon, so we met with her at her home and had our district leader come over and give her a blessing. She was very thankful and she loved getting her "very first blessing!" We also got to see a 17 year old girl we're teaching named Alisa. She also hasn't been feeling well and has been in the hospital! We're really glad she is doing better and will hopefully be seeing her more.

We are seriously so busy all the time!! We have probably about 4 set appointments a day or more, so we're always keeping ourselves busy and the time is flying!!! I can't believe February is basically over already!

We were super blessed to have 3 investigators at church yesterday! One was Gabriel, and his sister Maria came! She hasn't been in a little while but she has been taking the lessons again with Gabriel and she said it has really helped her remember what she’s supposed to be doing! Also Kerry and Mandy came; they are 10 and 12 and really sweet. It was good to have them sit with one of the girls of the ward their age so that they could make a friend and feel more comfortable next time.

I love this place, I love this work, I love the Gospel. I never have been happier than I am now, doing what Heavenly Father wants me to do. It's kinda funny how we always look for happiness in other things, forgetting that the real and only source of joy is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I hope I never forget that.

I love you!!   Sister Holt

Sister Sherksnas and Sister Holt

Sherksnas!

This week has been so busy! I guess we'll start with last Pday. It was my last day with Sister Greener and it was quite sad. I really will miss her, although I know she is need elsewhere for all her great missionary skills and abilities. On Tuesday Sister Greener and her new companion went to their new area and Sister Pack and I (she's from Reddeer) were companions til we got our new missionaries! I also got the news that I would be driving..... WHAT? I was pretty sure that was never going to happen... but I guess it did, which is super scary because we drive a 2017 Chevy Malibu and its a BOAT and I really don't want to mess that up. So please pray for me haha. So we got the call around 5 to go to the mission office to pick up our new companions and I was pretty sure who would be mine as soon as I saw the girls. Well apparently she felt that too. When they said that I would be training Sister Sherksnas, she came and sat by me and said,  " I was pretty sure you were going to be mine because you have nice eyebrows." ahahha i thought it was so funny. 

Sister Sherksnas is super sweet and she's already an amazing missionary. She totally understands why were out here and the need for exact obedience. I love her already and I know we will only improve from here as companions and as missionaries in general. I am so grateful  for the opportunity I have now to help someone get started on their journey as a missionary. I really am trying every day to teach her the right way to do things, and how to sacrifice for the work. I am grateful for your prayers that support me , i know this would be a ton harder without them.

We did a lot of teaching this week. We had almost our entire week planned by the time Sister Sherksnas got here! We didn't even find time to get her some groceries for a few days, but stuff like that doesn't even seem to matter when you are labouring hard in the Lord's vineyard. Every night we have been getting in just exhausted, and I'm grateful for that. There is no better feeling as a missionary than to feel like you have given your all that day.

We got to meet with one of our investigators, Kim, like 4 times this week, which was great!! He is progressing really well, and he is very aware of how much he needs to progress before baptism. He made a goal himself that he wanted to read the whole book of Mormon before getting baptized! I am so happy to see how he grows in the gospel and in his understanding of what god wants of him. Its really humbling to get to see that.

Yesterday at church, we had an investigator come to church tat we were definitely not expecting and it made us so happy to see him there! There was no one to teach the gospel principles class and there were no other investigators so we sat down with him and his sister, who is a member and shared the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ with him. it was a really good lesson, the spirit was definitely felt strong. Thats why I love teaching in the church, its the Lords house so its pretty easy to have the spirit there.

All in all, its been a pretty great week, and I can't wait for more to come! 

Love, Sister Holt

sorry, no time for pics this week! its presidents day.

Transfers :(

Hello all!

This week will be short- It's a holiday so we only have an hour in the family history centre this week.

This week flew by way too fast, and we were CRAZY busy. We actually found 3 new investigators this week- which was awesome! One of them is named Alisa, she's 17 and she has looked into our church before, but things didn't really pan out- but she seems really into it now. She has a ton of questions, which is always good :) Also a less-active member's son's wife is interested in learning more! She's Japanese and pregnant with their first baby. She's very shy but super sweet! Then there's Gabriel, he is a less-active member's brother. He just got out of jail but is seeming to want to turn his life around. He is very genuine and has a strong belief in God. SO all three are pretty different, but all have amazing potential!

We also had 3 investigators come to church yesterday which was awesome!!! Every week, almost all of our 12 investigators say they will come to church, and we usually only get 1....... yeah...... but this time 3 came! We were very happy and we had a great lesson about the fall of Adam and Eve in Gospel principles. I am so thankful for the knowledge I have thanks to the Book of Mormon and modern revelation! I know we have a living prophet on the earth and that he loves us and cares about our welfare. I know he, and the apostles, are special witnesses of Jesus Christ. I just want to tell everybody about the great news we have; the gospel! It makes me think of one of my favourite chapters, alma 29. 

 1 O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!

 2 Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.

3 But behold, I am a man, and do sin in my wish; for I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me.

Anyways, as you can probably tell from the subject of my email, we have transfers this week. Sister Greener is leaving me and she is going to Compton! So I guess they do send white Sisters there... pray for me. And her. Hahah, just kidding, kind of. I am staying here in the Beach ward, but I am training a new missionary! I am pretty nervous but I know that even though I may feel inadequate, I am not what I can make of myself, I am what God can make of me. If not, man I would not have lasted this long! There's a quote from an adress from a BYU President... something Worthin or something... anyways, its called failing successfully and theres a quote in there that says,"too often we ask ourselves, am I good enough. The real questions is; is God good enough?" I can testify that He is. He is good enough to make the impossible, possible. I love Him and I know he loves me, and you. Individually and perfectly. I won't stop trying to tell people that til the day I die, and even then I will preach it in the spirit world!

Love, Sister Holt

Sister Holt, Sister Greener, Brother and Sister Capp

More Rain!

Hey all! Sorry this one will be a short one! Not a lot happened this week- to be honest it FLEW by. Before I knew it, it was already Saturday!

Last week for P-day our zone played some football, not quite as fun as last time because there were TOO MANY people! The Elders wouldn't pass to us :( We also went on exchanges this week, I did love that :) It was really a great opportunity to be able to learn from the Sister Training Leaders and to just grow my testimony of missionary work; especially that God is preparing people for us to find! It really does come down to faith. If God has asked us to find people, it’s because they are out there! He does not ask us to do anything we can't do. We and the people we teach, just need to develop the faith to make it happen!

We also had the opportunity to teach a part-member family this week. The mom is a member, but the kids’ stepfather is not, so we teach the kids, they are 10 and 12 and really sweet! We wanted to help them better understand the restoration so we decided to show the video, so we brought the dvd thinking, "everybody has a dvd player, right?" Nope. They didn't. So we spent a good amount of time trying to find a laptop or they also had a portable dvd player that didn’t work... eventually they just got the step dad's laptop and we found it on lds.org...... it was kinda awkward, but hey! I think they got the message!

This week we also had an investigator who dropped us a couple weeks ago text us and tell us she wanted to meet again!!! We are so, so happy! Even more so because this time round, she really is seeming to get it! She is in this 100% now and she wants to do all she can to progress towards baptism :) She even texted us Sunday night, after she had gone to church earlier, and said that today was a really good day for her and she was at home listening to the Book of Mormon! We had had a less than ideal day so hearing that really helped me feel that it’s all worth it! Even if I work every single day, talking to everyone and trying my very hardest and just one person listens to me; it’s worth it!

The church is true!

Sister Holt

Teach Repentance; Baptize Converts

Hello!

Another beautiful week in the California Long Beach Mission! Sister Greener and I were proselyting in an apartment complex thing that had a pool and there were people out there tanning and swimming... in January! It was funny but it was a beautiful day! Got up to 80 degrees, so that was nice! No more rain!

This week has been pretty eventful! We got some changes in the missionary schedule and also in our key indicators. The missionary broadcast in which this information was given was so powerful! I really loved and needed that reminder of our purpose as missionaries! It is so easy to get caught up in numbers. Thinking you haven't done anything just because you didn't technically teach as many lessons as you usually did; and yet you did much to bring people closer to Christ. I am so happy with these changes and I can already see a difference in the way Sister Greener and I go about this work- it really is about

 the people, not the numbers.

Also this week we found out a homeless person was living in the storage space in our car port... so, we got that taken care of... it was an adventure!

Something else I have come to realize is that sometimes people's agency is super frustrating! You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink. That's up to them. As missionaries we try and we try, we do all we can to set up the appointments and call the members and arrange rides, and plan lessons, and bear testimony, and still people don't come through. It's a challenge but I know that every person is on their own timetable. God knows when people will come around, He knows every person in this area that will receive the Gospel and when. We just have to trust in that and work at their pace, teach according to their needs.

We did get to meet with one of our investigators who is progressing really well! His name is Kim and he is dating a member in the ward and he is just the best! He already has such a firm grasp on the Gospel- he just gets it. He knows this is the right path for him and he, and we, are excited for his baptism coming up in March. What I love most about lessons with Kim is that he is FULL of questions. I love it. We barely talk a lot of the time; he just asks questions, we answer, ask a question in return or read a scripture and he just launches into more soul-searching and testimony bearing and I just love it.

We also had our ward's annual chili cook off this week! It was super fun and Sister Greener and I got to be judges, so that was fun. There was also a silent auction for Girl's Camp going on and Sister Greener bid on some fudge, so she was pretty excited about that.

We also got to do some gardening for a lady named Christine- we potted some cactus and stuff and she let us take some home! :) It made me happy. We also had 2 members make my favourite dinner this week- so I loved that! All in all a great week!

Love you dearly!

Sister Holt

Who Says it Doesn't Rain in Southern California?!?!

Hello!

This week has been pretty slow on the lesson side of things.... I think God is humbling us, which is probably good! But it has definitely been harder to get people to meet with us! We were able to meet with 2 young investigators of ours, Yojhann and Emily, and teach them about prayer. They have been meeting with missionaries since they were really little but have never been able to be baptized because of extenuating circumstances, so we continue to meet with them! They are only 13 and 15, so it can sometimes be hard to get them into what we are teaching them. Sister Greener and I came to realize that we needed to take a different approach to teaching them. We decided to have shorter, more concentrated lessons on one gospel topic at a time, instead of teaching a whole lesson where they could lose interest or get lost. We also wanted to make their lessons a special, sacred, spiritual experience, every time. We took extra time planning out their lesson plan and seeking inspiration from God as to what they needed, not what lesson they were missing on paper, but what they needed for their spiritual development. I've got to say this was probably the most spiritual lesson I have had the privilege of teaching on my mission. I know it was inspired and led by God, and I felt, maybe for the first time, that something clicked there! I am just so happy to be here and to be able to have experiences like that! Now we just have to apply that to every lesson we do! Sometimes we cut corners in life, but I am learning that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not something that we can be stingy with! They need it, corners and all!

On Tuesday, we went to go see a member that no one knew, and they had moved, so I guess that's why no one knew them. So we left a pamphlet with the new person and as we were walking back to our car, we met a guy named Robert! We taught him a little bit about our church, talking about the Apostles and it was good, we asked if we could see him again and he said yes! So we are going to try and see him tomorrow! Hopefully we won't bail...

I also had a member make me poutine!! Yay! It was a little cold, but still good :) I miss Canada... We also got lost in a maze of an apartment complex looking for a less-active member.... for like 20 mins. Yeah, it was a pretty good time...

We sadly had one of our dear investigators, who was even preparing for baptism, drop us :( It was very sad but we prayed to know what Heavenly Father wanted us to do and we felt that we should let her go. We left her with John 14:27 and our testimonies. I sincerely hope she will be able to find her way back to the path she was on when she is ready. So yeah, that was a sad day. But! We did also have a baptism that evening for Tristin, our 11 year-old investigator. It was a nice service, it was very sweet to see his Dad baptize him!

It was also suuuuper rainy, so we took some pictures! Like I'm talking the streets were flooded.

Yesterday we basically had a typhoon hit us. It was pretty rainy after church but, you know, we gotta work anyways! So we went out and visited a couple people. Then our appointment for 3:00 texts us and cancels because there are flash flood warnings. Well, you know, we keep working anyways haha So we're about to go see some backups and we get a call from a less-active member we visit pretty often and who was going to feed us that night. She calls us in a panic and says there are 2 inches of water in her house! So we asked if she wanted us to come over and she said, YES! So we debated whether or not to go home and change first, but we were already soaked so we went over in our dresses and tried to get some of the flooding that was going into her house from the backyard, into the storm drains. So we had like 10 people there sweeping and raking and doing whatever we could to move the water from the backyard, around the side of the house, and out to the street. Oh man my back hurts now but it was actually kinda fun! Even though I was in a skirt, freezing cold in torrential rain, barefoot, so I didn't ruin my shoes! Somehow, through all that, I was so happy, and so was the member! She texted us later and said that she has no idea how she wasn't crying and freaking out that whole time. Even in the rain, we were able to find sunshine, and put our shoulders to the wheel. 

The Church is true! The Book is blue!

Love, Sister Holt