Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Miracles Happen (6/21/10)





picture time...
1. Richard and Sally the newest members (and priesthood holder) of the branch.
2. Cali gets HUGE SNAILS here. That isn't even that big or that unusual. SICK!!
3. Elder and Sister Stephans at a Father's Day dinner.
4. the one armed man tying a tie.

It's just another week in paradise as I have said before. they say it is an unusual summer here and has stayed rather cool which is a major blessing seeing how i have such white precious skin that burns easily in 110 degree sun. So I am surviving and life is great. This week we have worked so hard and have seen a lot of success because of it. We taught over 20 lessons to non-members and over 10 lessons to recent converts and less active members. We went to see a part member family that has been visiting with us for over 8 months. he was never really interested, he is methodist, so we layed off for a while. but we decided this week to not take a minute for granted. it was 8;30 and we just finished an appt close to home so we thought of someone we could see we said Charles. he lives close and we can just share a scripture with him. So we go and open to a random scripture it happens to be just the thing he is waiting for just what he was thinking about. Alma 34:31-33 a great scripture to talk about. he has decided to give the gospel 2 months. he will do everything faithfully for 2 months and see how it goes. his wife is a less active member and she is ready to get back in to doing things right. yeah for her!!

The Stephans have been a huge help with us. We get to split up and go out with them everyday to teach and see more people. They have so much energy and love for these people and great ideas so we are so grateful for them everyday. We have a lot of people that want to be baptized but they have to do other things first that they are not so sure of... like getting married or seperating or knowing the book of mormon so that is where we stand with most of our investigators right now. They are all progressing spiritually a lot with is what we need and then they can have that firm testimony that they need when they are baptized. Just pray for them that they can have the faith to take those steps they need to before baptism and we will be inspired as missionaries as to what we need to do and SAY to help them gain that faith.

Richard and Sally what an amazing couple. A few of the times we went to see them they talked about their goal being the Temple next year. i am so happy for them. I can't wait to see them go through the Temple. Yesterday they were confirmed members of the Church and Richard recieved the Priesthood. He also wore a white shirt and learned how to tie a tie for the first time in his life. The best part is he learned to tie a tie from a one armed man who doesn't speak his same language. it was really funny. what a success they are. Sally and I have a great connection and i am so grateful for her spirit and faith in the things that she has gone through. Richard is a goof ball and loves to kid but when he talks about the gospel he is as serious as anyone. He knows it's true and he is the definition of a change of heart. He tells us more and more things that he did when he was back on the island. it amazes me how strong he is and his desire to keep learning more. He has more questions than anyone i have ever met.

Basically life is great and my testimony has grown in obedience.. I know how great it feels to be obedient and how much me being obedient can bless other lives. a lot is based on me and if I don't do it than others may not recieve those blessings. how happy i am to be a missionary and to be serving the Lord for such a short time. i can't believe it is already half over. i have to live it up and be the missionary all of you think i am and do my best. i am so excited for the rest of my mission it has been a journey that i hope will never end.

Oh and today while we were waiting for the library to open some elders saw people signing and so i got to sign with them for about 10 mins it was so fun!! I am a little rusty but i think i did pretty good for not signing in 2 months. They also said they would check out the church. It was so GREAT! i love being a missionary.

I love you all and have a great day. Hope to hear from you all soon. Thanks for the letters and picture. i got a package from the primary it was cute so tell them thanks for me, please.

Love Sister Holt
Be Happy and keep smiling

Monday, June 14, 2010

Hello Peeps (6/14/10)

Richard and Sally's baptism.

We are starting week 3 in this transfer and time is flying by. I can't believe it is time for another p-day.

Ok you ready for the craziness I've experienced this week? marshallese are crazy first of all then try to add doing all of marshallese and then also on top of that doing tongan work. wow CRAZY!!

Richard and Sally: We visited them everyday to prepare them for Saturday, their baptism. Everything was going great, they were reading, learning, feeding us, and playing lots. It was really good then the day before the baptism we go over... this is where Satan comes in. She had gone to the hospital the night before because she was so sick. Couldn't move and didn't know what to do. So we went looking for some nice young men to come give her a blessing.

Ok I need to add part of the story on wednesday the Senior couple that is going to help us with the Marshallese Branch arrived. They are fabulous tons of fun and we just think it is going to be a great transfer with them. ok they wanted to come out with us to get to know the marshallese people. We planned Friday Night because we also had to go to basketball for the marshallese boys. So we decided I could go with the Stephans (SR couple) and Sis Fangupo and Takilang could stay at basketball. ok back to the story...

The Stephans called and I ended up going with them to see some people while we were waiting for the Members to come home so they could give a blessing. We visited some investigators and it was lots of fun. Then we ended with Richard and Sally. We found out the she went and came back with a perscription for anti-biotics. She had a(n) UTI and didn't have any money or a ride to get the perscription. We were talking with them teaching them and reading the scriptures. The Stephans are amazing by the way. Then I talked with Sally and she was crying because she thought she wouldn't be able to get baptized the next day. And she wants to be a good Christian following Christ and couldn't if she wasn't baptized. She is so great I love her to death. The members came and gave her a blessing and the blessing said she would not be healed but she will be strong enough to overcome satan and go to the baptism.

She and her Husband are now baptized into the Church but they are not members... not yet... they woke up late for church and didn't make it to sacrament meeting. They made it to the other classes and did great but they need an alarm clock so they can make it nezt weeek. When we went they were in the shower gettign ready to come to church and so it's hard but they will be there early next week they said. That is the crazy marshallese. I love them to death.

other than that not a lot happened because Sis Fangupo had a tooth ache and a few doctors appts to get those teeth ripped out of her face. So she was in sick a couple times. but that is ok this week is going to make up for it we are going to see lots of new investigators and stuff. We have a lot of investigators and now we just need to figure out what their concerns are so we can get them to come to church I don't get it they say they will come and then they don't. I will never give up never those marshallese will be filling up the chapel before we know it.

We also celebrated Father's Day in the Marshallese Branch and it was tons of fun. Thewives have this funny song they sing to tease their husbands. They are some of the funniest people i've ever met. I love this little branch with all my heart. I'm gonna miss it when I'm gone

Well time is short so have a great week and I will talk to you next week and thanks for all the letters and email updates I appreciate it so much it was a good week. i love you all

Love SIster Holt
Be happy and keep smiling

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Just another week (6/7/10)


Bula,

How's the family and friends? I am doing great!! There have been some great things going on in the Marshallese and Tongan area. Because we have now picked up the Elders area we have a baptism this Saturday. Here is the story are you ready, it is amazing and really a miracle...

Richard and Sally are both from the Marshall Islands and they moved here about a month and a half ago. They came to be with some family. Back on the island when Richard was growing up he would make fun of Mormons. He would throw rocks at the missionaries and steal their bikes or slash their tires. He would do whatever he could to make them feel bad or to run away. He was terrible and his brother was is a member and he would kick him out all the time and do mean things to him. Richard would get drunk all the time and try to find different women each weekend. His family told him he should date Sally because she was a good girl and close to the family. Well they started to date, dated for almost 4 years then they moved here. The whole time they were dating she would ask Richard to marry her but he would say "NO" because she was married before. He didn't want something used. She would continue asking. Anyway he said he would keep her around and think about marrying her, when really he was looking for an American girl. So that puts us to last month...

The Elders found then and started teaching Sally, she was very receptive loved the church right away and wanted to be baptized. Richard would leave the house and even say mean things to Sally for letting the missionaries in. It was really sad. But one day the Elders caught him and trapped him. They taught a lesson to both of them and when they left Richard told Sally to have the Elders back the next day. MIRACLE... so they came and kept teaching them. It had been about a month since he had beer and he started to change his attitude. Decided he wanted to marry Sally and so Sunday they were Married. Step one to baptism, step two baptize on Saturday!! We are so excited. I love them they are both such amazing people and I have a great relationship with Richard got him to open up and tell us all his concerns. He confessed all he did to us yesterday and how bad he felt for doing things to the missionaries before. He is a great man and will make a great leader in the future. so Step three is the Temple!! It's a beautiful thing missionary work. That's all I have to say.
We have a lot of people we are working with and they either need to get married or they need to get divorced so we are trying to accomplish all of that before we can move on. Pray that miracles may happen and we will find those who are ready for the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ!! Because that is what I am here for.

I also need to give a shout out to Mary sorry this is a little late to say Happy Birthday I have to do it on P-days but Happy Birthday you are wonderful and I hope all is well and Krusty Mae in 2 days happy birthday your card is held hostage until I get those pictures so no birthday until then sorry lady. and I made oti today!!! It's amazing Tongan drink that I am obsessed with so I will make it when I get home. it's YUM!! And Mango is my favorite fruit in the world just so you all know how delicious they are.

Well I think that is all I have for today I had a great week with lots of fun and TONS of food. 2-3 dinners a night, how can you go wrong, eh? The Church is still true and I am a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ and it has never been more real to me then it is now. I am the watchman over these people, if I don't sound my trump their blood is on my hands. Missionary work is such a privilege and I am so blessed to be a missionary. Thanks to all of you for your love and support you give to me. I love you all and thank you for the pictures they are phenomenal. I will end saying Paul is the man! The best missionary to walk this earth. i have been studying him recently to learn how I can be a better missionary and WOW I love him and admire everything he did and those chapters mean so much to me now I'm a missionary living it the way he did.

Ok that's all, Love you and hope you have a great week and if you haven't written to me in the past month you prolly should do so immediately!

Ij yokwe yuk, ofa atu, and I love you!!

Love Sister Holt
Be Happy and keep smiling

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Transfer Calls (6/1/10)



Pic 1 Pops here is your picture of me with a smile not being crazy
Pic 2 One of my favorite marshallese families!! the Jordans I love them, and look how white I am haha

Hello and still Yakwe and Bula and Malo e le le,

Yup that's right I'm staying right where I am!! I love it and this is exactly what I wanted. This week has been the craziest week of my life I'm pretty sure. So much has happened. I love my companions more than anything in this world. We have made it through so much. We are covering the Tongans and now we have all of the Marshallese (we had elders in the ward also before) but not anymore. It's gonna be crazy and now we have a senior couple coming to work in the marshallese program they will work with the Less actives and the recent converts. Woot woot.

Lets see we had Marshallese independence day celebration this week and while we were there some members came and told us about part of their family getting into a car crash. It was our Recent Convert Asako and our Investigator Joe. The ones we are trying to get divorced so we can marry them. We went to the hospital to see them (she is pregnant) they are ok Joe's back hurts and the baby is doing good. But we arrived and we asked what we can do to help Joe said "let's pray" it was so good. We gathered in prayer and found worthy members to come and give them blessings. How I love the Gospel and the protection and comfort you recieve from it. The grandma got hurt she is over 80 yrs old and is the mom of most of the marshallese here. she is having surgery on her leg today so pray everything will go smooth.

We were able to go to the temple today and do a session. It has been so long since I have done a session I think since December. It feels so good. I miss going to the Temple so everyone must go to the temple for me. The temple is such a beautiful place and I feel the spirit so strong. I was one of the last to go into the Celestial Room but the feeling I had waiting to go it. I was so anxious I can't even describe I just wanted to be there with all the other missionaries. We are so lucky to be able to go to the Temple. I loved it today with all the missionaries. I love thinking that there are so many young men and women that are worthy to go to the temple and that know the importance of it and want to go.

The other day I was laying in bed and I couldn't sleep, we were all talking and I was playing with the bed above me and it fell down. On me, but luckily no scars just a small scratch. Crazy me you think i would get over my stupid things but I haven't, not yet. and Sister Shumway came to visit and I got to go to lunch with her. It was so fun I miss her guts I can't wait until the time I have to play with her.

We have a baptism this week (the elders taught them before) but Sally has been waiting for so long to get baptized but richard didin't want to but now he told us he wants to be baptized he is just really nervous. So they are getting married and baptized this week. yeah it's so great. I love being a missionary and seeing how happy these people are here. And we took Florence on a temple tour saturday and she felt so good. But she is having a hard time seeing the difference between this church and hers.

Well that is all for now I just want to let you all know the importance of obedience and being accountable for yourself. I learned that this week. I know the importance of obedience and the blessings that are received because of it. But you can't blame others for not being obedient and you can't blame them for things not going right in your life becvause you are not obedient. But I know how good it feels to be obedient, you don't have to worry about things because you know you are doing the right.

Well Brothers and Sisters the church is true and my goal from here on out is to not take a moment for granted because it is so short. I can't believe it has been a transfer already. I know I say that all the time but I really mean it. Time has flown by the harder you work the faster it goes. I can't wait to see what the next 6 weeks have in store for me. I love you from the bottom of my heart and I mean that because I have learned how much you have all done for me before my mission and now while I'm on my mission. I don't take any of you for granted anymore. I really appreciate all of you and your letters and help you give me here on my mission. I love you

Love Sister Holt
Be Happy and Keep Smiling