Birthday Week (8/9/10)

Pic 1 is a beautiful manteca family they are great.

Pic 2 is a beautfiul manteca sky it is great.

Pic 3 is a bea...elders car. see how low it is, that's because we had over 1,000 water balloons in the back and 6 elders. hahah we had a fight today and it was loads of fun. it was over 2 hours ago and i'm still wet. Mom I take after you I got em all you would be proud.!!!!

Hello everyone.

So it's great this week is full of birthdays. Today is my comps birthday she turned 22 and today is my 11 month birthday. Wednesday is my birthday and i turn 22 and it is also her day that she turns 9 months. Cute!! We were meant to be together. So sorry mom but I"m opening my package tomorrow because that is OUR birthday!! YEAH I love birthdays. But it's weird on a mission, holidays don't feel like holidays really.... That is my exciting news for the week. HAve a great week.

No I'm just kidding much more exciting things have happened. Dawna will be baptized this Saturday unless something major happens. ( She has some past sins we are hopping won't keep her from baptisms.) And this last week I went to Manteca with Sister Cook and Sister Fangupo. Both of them I was companions with it was so much fun. It's cool because manteca is a place that i could possibly serve. It's really nice area and the members are super helpful. This week has been super busy and I have loved it we have been trying to see a lot of people and getting Less Actives to church and guess what... we had lot's of less actives to church this week. We are keeping the branch strong as long as we can. It's so great. We have so many investigators that we are just trying to get people progressing. it is so much fun being a missionary here I love the people with all my heart even though they are a little crazy and non committal.

Oh and Jen you best be having that baby on wednesday!!! I won't allow anything else. Yeah for august birthdays. And thanks for all the birthday wishes. I should have birthdays more often it's the most I hear from all of you!! OH and yes mom I got your package thank you!! Sister Stoddard opened it but won't let me touch it till tomorrow morning.

This next week I get to go to Stockton it is gonna be fun. Well anyway time is flying by and I gotta go!! Sorry it's kinda short this week!! I just don't have a lot of time.

Well I love you all and I will write you next week.

Love sister holt

Be happy and keep smiling

It's August Now (8/2/10)

Hello again,

I really need a new line I use that one too much. But Hello!! It's me Sister Holt, I'm a missionary inSacramento, California. Time is flying by and I feel as though I have to control over anything in my life because it all passes much too quickly. This was a good week. I went to Galt (farm town with LOTS OF COWS) for my first exchange. It was lot's of fun. Sister Smith and SIster Coffin were great they were very eager to learn and apply what they are learning to their teaching. I also learned a lot. I am going to change a lot this week on exchanges to be more organized. It is fun to work with the other sisters but I miss being with my companion in my area. Sister Stoddard is great, always up for anything and ready to work. She is a blasty.

Casey and Bobby were supposed to come to church this week but something drastic must have happened because they didn't show up. I wonder what it was. We are going to see Casey today and we are going to try to get the kids and Husband, Dan, involved. Casey really wants to be baptized but she needs her husbands support to do it because she feels it will cause too many problems in their already fragile marriage. She is strong and has been reading the book of Mormon faithfully. She read all about the 2,000 stripling warriors. Pretty cool. She loved it and is so interested about learning more and more. We are really excited for her. We hope she will continue to grow closer and start to apply the things she learns so her life so it can help her and strengthen her. Man I love being a missionary and seeing peoples lives change.

This friday we had the great opportunity to go to Camp Nauvoo in Placerville. It was great a camp full of deafies. Now the woods really are quiet when no one is talking. But we had fun taking pictures with all the kids. THey were posing us and taking funny pictures. It was superb and beautiful weather. It is a campsite the church owns and some members live there onsite as caretakers and it is a cute little house in the woods. Their son just went into the MTC for the Salt Lake mission. COol, Elder Judd. Keep an eye out for him eh?

THen on Saturday we made dinner for a member. She has had kidney failure for a little over a year now and came close to death a few times. She found a donor and had her surgery july 26th. So the missionaries made her Chicken Parmesan. We had it as well it was yummy. But when we delivered the food the man that donated his kidney was there with him. It was her friend. While I was talking to him about it I just felt the spirit so strong. I could feel his love for her and a little how much the Savior loves her that He gave His whole life for us. It was a really special moment. I was very grateful for that man and his courage to help someone out. A great testimony to me of Love, pure love. The thing is he didn't even think anything of it. He just simply said, "well if it was you wouldn't you do the same thing?" If it was me would I do the same thing? I have decided, Yes I would.

Well my Brothers and Sister it is time to say goodbye for now and I will talk to you all in a week. I love this Gospel it has blessed my life so much and the lives of the people that accept our message. It amazes me how many people are so closed they won't even listen to what we share and they miss out on so much in their life. They are so afraid it will make them happy they won't try. I am grateful that my heart has been softened and I have the message starting to grow within my heart. I pray that the seed I have planted will continue to grow so when I leave my mission it can be strong enough to stand against fierce winds. It's coming along and I am grateful for the many examples I have in my life and the strong trees around me that stand as protection against the winds. Thank you all.

I love you all,

Love Sister HOlt

Be happy and keep smiling.

Howdy (7/26/10)

Hello family/friends

Today is a very beautiful day here in California, it's about 80 and I'm loving it. There is a cool breeze comin in and life is great. I am eating a cinnamon roll from walmart for $.50 can't get better than that and we are about to play a sweet game of scatter ball. Yup LIfe is great here in Carmichael.

The Training is over. 4 days from 9-4 everyday. I was exhausted but man did I learn a lot. I am so grateful I was able to go to those meetings. Now I just have to go share it will all the sisters in the mission. ha easy right. 4 days of learning and i teach them in 1 day exchanges. What I learned there has changed my mission and will change my life forever. The Prophet and his counselors really are inspired. SO is President Jardine. He is such an amazing man, best mission president in existence. They have changed the way they do things. Zone Conf. will be happening every quarter, every 3 months, along with interviews. crazy that is going to be different but it will give us more time to go out and work work, work, work. I am so excited. I have really noticed a difference in my mission already and the way I teach people.

They taught us things we already know but the focus of what and why we teach has changed. We teach the Doctrine of Christ (2 Nephi 31) we teach everything to help them receive personal revelation. Really just everything. I have learned to listen to the spirit better. I have a long long lo-----------------------ng way to go until I know how to listen to the spirit but I can recognize when it is speaking to me. Missions are SUPERB I love them. everything about them makes me want to shout for joy.

So because I was in meetings most of the time I didn't get to teach a lot of people but we did teach a few. Dawna (our hearing investigator) she is great. She came to church and loved it, learned a lot and showed us something really cool in the bible the Epistle of Jude it talks about Christ's church being mocked. Because people don't understand it. and many other things. She had never read that before and at church she felt like she should read Jude so she did. And it clicked to her. Because her friend that is a member said that he doesn't know any of his neighbors because the one that would talk to him moved and the others wont' becuase he is a mormon. then she read this chapter. and it amazed her. The one true Church will be mocked. Our church is the church that is most outwardly mocked because people don't know anything about it. she loved it and she felt really good about that. She is getting baptized on August 10 between Sister stoddard and my birthday. Aug 9 and 11. So we are going to have a baptism then a birthday party that day. So cool!! I am super excited. It is going to be so fun. She just needs to quit smoking then we are set to go. She is getting there. sSo pray for her.

Bobby is our man from the 80's he has long blonde hair and it is so beautiful. I love it. He cracks me up. But he came to church yesterday and loved it. we will see him again this week and his daughter so hopefully things will go somewhere with that one.

Something funny that i never mentioned. My responsibility in the marshallese branch was what??? RS chorister. Yup that is right there were 5 of us there and I was the one teaching all the marshallese how the hymns sound. THey will never learn with me. But I got to go back for a marriage and baptism. it was wonderful they were really happy to see me and it was good to see everyone again. I miss them lots.

Life is great as always and I can't wait to try the new things i learned this week and see how it goes. Wish me luck and pray that i can be an effective teacher to help the other sisters learn this material.

Love Sister HOlt