Well this week was the hardest and worst week i have had since i have been on my mission. It started with us going down to the city, which i thought was going to be an awesome experience, but i got sick... again! It was the exact same thing as always. I always know when i am going to get sick. So i worked with one of the zone leaders and just felt like crap. I threw up a couple of times in one of the houses of some recent converts in his ward! (impressive!) My companion and I then returned to Queretaro and hadn't worked at all in our area, and hadnt seen Andres all week. We had a cita set up with him on thursday night and he didnt show up. We called him and he was like 'yeah, i need to talk to you guys. I dont want anything to do with the church anymore and i dont even want to talk to you guys anymore'. I felt like i just got hit by a bus (actually, i felt like walking into the street and getting hit by a bus, as well) haha. I was so sad. The guy was our miracle. He was literally perfect. He had bought a wedding ring and everything for his member girlfriend, and now, because of the last minute push by satan, he is a single 27 year old, no fiance, and not a member. I was so sad for him. I have to really push myself to stay positive though. Yolanda and her 2 kids and 2 nephews are progressing great. i hope this is the blessing and the end to all of the trials that i have been having.
Well then it was my birthday. Mom i got the little package but still not the birthday one. I only got the one with the halloween stuff in it, which i loved, so thanks so much for that. Supposedly my other package is in one of the other buildings here in queretaro and i will get it tomorrow when we have a junta with president and our zone. On friday night, we went to the Castillos home and they had a cake for me and they gave me a sweet mexico jersey (i will send pics!) They are so nice and so awesome to me. And then on the actual birthday, one of the families here took us out for carnitas in another city that is famous for carnitas, and they also gave me a nice birthday gift. the people in the ward are so awesome to me and it was really nice. Other than that, it didnt really feel like a birthday. No breakfast in bed, and i had to work all day! haha.
Well the adversary is working extremely hard not only on me, but also on our investigators. Everything that has happened makes me just get mad and not want to work as hard, but i am not going to let that happen! I promise. I am going to work even harder and put all my faith in the lord. I do know that the blessings come after the trials of our faith, and i hope that i will be able to write next week and bear testimony of that! well, love you all and keep me in your prayers, because every single tuesday i get sick! (what's up with that?) i think i have something growing inside of me! haha. Anyway, keep your fingers crossed that i dont get sick tomorrow.
Love you all,
Elder holmes
(Sorry that this letter was a little down, but hey it isn´t all kicks and giggles out here. it is the hardest thing i have ever done, but worth it, at the same time.)
Friday, October 28, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Happy Birthday.....To ME!
Hey guys!
Well just want to start off this leter as i usually do with saying whose birthday it is. oh yeah, that is right. it is mine!! happy birthday to me!! haha. and also to Jimmy wonnacott on friday, because he is one of the only other birthdays i know because it is so close to mine! oh and the ford girls, of course!! hope the day is awesome for you guys as well. Well we are going to be eating with some members and they are making me a special birthday feast! then the castillo family, who is way awesome, wants us to stop by in the night to party. ok, well not party but maybe have some cake or something. haha. i still havent got my package, but i will be down there tomorow because my comp is going to the temple with some converts, and i am working in the city so that should be fun and hopefully it is there. OH and for christmas - i would love some more ear plugs! i sleep with them every night and it is way nice. haha. the crickets are so loud!!
So today was another awesome p day. I think it is because of our new zone leader, elder gleave. he is way fun and loves to do stuff. SO this morning our whole zone got together and went to ihop to have all you can eat pancakes for 40 pesos and then after that we went bowling. i know i am supposed to be humble and all that but i smashed them all in bowling! it wasn't my best game but i bowled a 180! not bad. I dont have my cord to download pics so another day i will send those. remember this is my fun paragraph and funny experiences, so.... There is this kid that we see all the time and he always calls me elmer because he is a little confused with the elder. He is just some kid on the street and always is yelling elmer at me! haha. Well the other day he and his bud came up and offered me some marijuana! i have never been offered drugs in my whole life and i even went to the "drug school" haha. and now i am a missionary and i got offered them!! i thought that was pretty funny. Oh also you know how people down here have names that you would never see in the u.s., like "jesus" or "savior" and stuff like that? well the other day this lady's name was, no joke, Evangelio de dios! haha. "Oh hi! my name is 'gospel of god'"!! i thought that that was a little bit funny. her parents must have really loved her!!!
ok well now to the goods! we had 7 people in church yesterday. it was awesome! Andreas is a freaking stud and he is going to be baptized this next sunday. I am so happy! and then yolanda not only came to church, but brought two of her kids and two nephews. so we are going to be meeting with her whole family this next week. Yolanda has a date for baptism on the 30th of october, so things are looking up. we had two awesome lessons with her this week with other members in the ward. Working with the members is definitely the way to go. SO mom, dad, nick and lee, make sure you are open whenever the members need your help teaching and what not. Also this kid named Bizmar came to church (bizmar by the way is a freaking sweet name, don't ya think? i might have to name one of my kids that! he would go by biz! so dope! haha.). We set a baptismal date with him as well for the 30th. This week i did have 10 contacts or more every day and i have been working my butt off. We are trying to work more with the members so that is our goal for this week. but like i said, i will be down in the city tomorrow so we won't have too much time to work in our district. I think my spanish is doing a lot better, but i still get down on myself sometimes. gosh it can just be so hard and i sound like a total newb sometimes.
Well i love my ward! the people are way nice. The Castillo family is always giving us stuff and feeding us and even doing our laundry! She knit me the other day this way sweet thing with my name on it. i will send a pic of it next week. Also, there are a couple people in our ward who like to practice their english with me. Andreas speaks good english actually and we have become pretty close. He is a way nice guy. Well i think that is it for me! wow i can't believe that i am going to be 20! that is way too crazy! I am way old Huh! well, mom have fun in d.c. this week and show christian the awesome time that you showed me and the rest of all the boys! i love you all and hope that everything is going well back home!
Love elder Holmes!
Well just want to start off this leter as i usually do with saying whose birthday it is. oh yeah, that is right. it is mine!! happy birthday to me!! haha. and also to Jimmy wonnacott on friday, because he is one of the only other birthdays i know because it is so close to mine! oh and the ford girls, of course!! hope the day is awesome for you guys as well. Well we are going to be eating with some members and they are making me a special birthday feast! then the castillo family, who is way awesome, wants us to stop by in the night to party. ok, well not party but maybe have some cake or something. haha. i still havent got my package, but i will be down there tomorow because my comp is going to the temple with some converts, and i am working in the city so that should be fun and hopefully it is there. OH and for christmas - i would love some more ear plugs! i sleep with them every night and it is way nice. haha. the crickets are so loud!!
So today was another awesome p day. I think it is because of our new zone leader, elder gleave. he is way fun and loves to do stuff. SO this morning our whole zone got together and went to ihop to have all you can eat pancakes for 40 pesos and then after that we went bowling. i know i am supposed to be humble and all that but i smashed them all in bowling! it wasn't my best game but i bowled a 180! not bad. I dont have my cord to download pics so another day i will send those. remember this is my fun paragraph and funny experiences, so.... There is this kid that we see all the time and he always calls me elmer because he is a little confused with the elder. He is just some kid on the street and always is yelling elmer at me! haha. Well the other day he and his bud came up and offered me some marijuana! i have never been offered drugs in my whole life and i even went to the "drug school" haha. and now i am a missionary and i got offered them!! i thought that was pretty funny. Oh also you know how people down here have names that you would never see in the u.s., like "jesus" or "savior" and stuff like that? well the other day this lady's name was, no joke, Evangelio de dios! haha. "Oh hi! my name is 'gospel of god'"!! i thought that that was a little bit funny. her parents must have really loved her!!!
ok well now to the goods! we had 7 people in church yesterday. it was awesome! Andreas is a freaking stud and he is going to be baptized this next sunday. I am so happy! and then yolanda not only came to church, but brought two of her kids and two nephews. so we are going to be meeting with her whole family this next week. Yolanda has a date for baptism on the 30th of october, so things are looking up. we had two awesome lessons with her this week with other members in the ward. Working with the members is definitely the way to go. SO mom, dad, nick and lee, make sure you are open whenever the members need your help teaching and what not. Also this kid named Bizmar came to church (bizmar by the way is a freaking sweet name, don't ya think? i might have to name one of my kids that! he would go by biz! so dope! haha.). We set a baptismal date with him as well for the 30th. This week i did have 10 contacts or more every day and i have been working my butt off. We are trying to work more with the members so that is our goal for this week. but like i said, i will be down in the city tomorrow so we won't have too much time to work in our district. I think my spanish is doing a lot better, but i still get down on myself sometimes. gosh it can just be so hard and i sound like a total newb sometimes.
Well i love my ward! the people are way nice. The Castillo family is always giving us stuff and feeding us and even doing our laundry! She knit me the other day this way sweet thing with my name on it. i will send a pic of it next week. Also, there are a couple people in our ward who like to practice their english with me. Andreas speaks good english actually and we have become pretty close. He is a way nice guy. Well i think that is it for me! wow i can't believe that i am going to be 20! that is way too crazy! I am way old Huh! well, mom have fun in d.c. this week and show christian the awesome time that you showed me and the rest of all the boys! i love you all and hope that everything is going well back home!
Love elder Holmes!
Friday, October 14, 2011
Messi in Mexico!
Well hey there!
Well as you can tell from the title of my email i finally got to play soccer today with some of the guys in my zone. And yeah you guessed it. I looked a lot like messi on the court! haha. It was really fun that we actually got to do stuff with our zone and on a p`day! Well to answer some questions: things with my companion are going pretty good. i will go into more detail later on that. And Margartita wasn't home this week to visit, so it looks like she has kind of fallen away, which is really too sad. My new district leader is elder far and yeah he is an awesome missionary and extremely obedient, which is a good thing.
Ok so i have decided that the people here might be a little bit racist. In the stores they sell this donut that is really good but it is called the Negrito. And on the package, sure enough, is a little black guy with a fro! it is a big joke with all of the american elders and the negritos really are delicious! haha. Oh and also last monday i ate a freaking torta on the street and it messed me up real bad! haha. i was sick for the next 2 days and one night didnt sleep at all.
Well now to the serious part! This week we had a zone conference on tuesday and it made me realize that i am not putting enough effort into each day. For the first part of the mission, i have only contacted about 5 people a day or less, because i was afraid of my spanish at time,s and the people are sometimes rude. Well since i was sick in the beginning of the week, i really didnt feeel like contacting at all. But all of a sudden, i had the urge to just start contacting. I was like 'might as well start now', because sometimes i would say 'oh well, i will do better tomorrow'. but you know how that works out? Well long story short, the first lady i contacted was super excited and was like 'yeah come to my house. i want my whole family to hear!' So we met with them and she told us how she was walking that day on the street wondering how she was going to fix her family problems, when i contacted her and told her we had a message about eternal families. I know that the spirit works in many different ways, and a lot of times in ways we dont even realize. Since then i have had at least 10 or more contacts everyday and the lord also blessed us with another miracle this week. His name is Andreas. HE is golden. He is going to be baptized in two sundays. So long story short, i know that when we do all that we can do, we are blessed with the guidance and promise of the lord.
We also taught this mother and daughter this week. It is so sad. They don't talk to each other at all, and the daughter won't forgive her mom and all this stuff. We had to teach them separately because they won't even sit in the same room. The daughter is 16 and has a baby that is already 1 year old. so yeah, I would say the mom had a little bit of a reason to get mad, but it has gotten worse, i guess. It made me realize how lucky i am to have a mom like you, mom! You're the best and i love you so much. i'm realizing that so many times we don't see the blessings in our life until we are exposed to the exact opposite. We are still working with them but it is way tough!
Well it sounds like all is going way well! Everyone here is way nice. hopefully someone will remember that it's my birthday next week and treat me real nice! keep up all the good work! love you all and miss you sometimes! haha.
Love elder holmes
Well as you can tell from the title of my email i finally got to play soccer today with some of the guys in my zone. And yeah you guessed it. I looked a lot like messi on the court! haha. It was really fun that we actually got to do stuff with our zone and on a p`day! Well to answer some questions: things with my companion are going pretty good. i will go into more detail later on that. And Margartita wasn't home this week to visit, so it looks like she has kind of fallen away, which is really too sad. My new district leader is elder far and yeah he is an awesome missionary and extremely obedient, which is a good thing.
Ok so i have decided that the people here might be a little bit racist. In the stores they sell this donut that is really good but it is called the Negrito. And on the package, sure enough, is a little black guy with a fro! it is a big joke with all of the american elders and the negritos really are delicious! haha. Oh and also last monday i ate a freaking torta on the street and it messed me up real bad! haha. i was sick for the next 2 days and one night didnt sleep at all.
Well now to the serious part! This week we had a zone conference on tuesday and it made me realize that i am not putting enough effort into each day. For the first part of the mission, i have only contacted about 5 people a day or less, because i was afraid of my spanish at time,s and the people are sometimes rude. Well since i was sick in the beginning of the week, i really didnt feeel like contacting at all. But all of a sudden, i had the urge to just start contacting. I was like 'might as well start now', because sometimes i would say 'oh well, i will do better tomorrow'. but you know how that works out? Well long story short, the first lady i contacted was super excited and was like 'yeah come to my house. i want my whole family to hear!' So we met with them and she told us how she was walking that day on the street wondering how she was going to fix her family problems, when i contacted her and told her we had a message about eternal families. I know that the spirit works in many different ways, and a lot of times in ways we dont even realize. Since then i have had at least 10 or more contacts everyday and the lord also blessed us with another miracle this week. His name is Andreas. HE is golden. He is going to be baptized in two sundays. So long story short, i know that when we do all that we can do, we are blessed with the guidance and promise of the lord.
We also taught this mother and daughter this week. It is so sad. They don't talk to each other at all, and the daughter won't forgive her mom and all this stuff. We had to teach them separately because they won't even sit in the same room. The daughter is 16 and has a baby that is already 1 year old. so yeah, I would say the mom had a little bit of a reason to get mad, but it has gotten worse, i guess. It made me realize how lucky i am to have a mom like you, mom! You're the best and i love you so much. i'm realizing that so many times we don't see the blessings in our life until we are exposed to the exact opposite. We are still working with them but it is way tough!
Well it sounds like all is going way well! Everyone here is way nice. hopefully someone will remember that it's my birthday next week and treat me real nice! keep up all the good work! love you all and miss you sometimes! haha.
Love elder holmes
Monday, October 3, 2011
Conference was so Legit!
Ok well i am going to try to fly because i just found out that we actually only have 45 minutes on the computer instead of an hour so that is just awesome. SO Thanks dad for sending me those object lessons. And HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Ellen Lewis. I dont know if you read my letters ellen but i hope you have an awesome birthday tomorrow.
Welll this week was pretty sweet! can you believe that today is the first transfers of my mission? I lose my district leader elder mcleary and one other missionary. I will miss them. They were way good elders. so on tuesday of this week one of the APs came and worked with us for the day, which was pretty sweet. He helped me out a lot because he spoke english and i was able to tell him some of my concerns, so he could help me fix them with my comp. He really stressed working with the members, which i agree that it is one of the most important things. Well then after he left we had some great success during the week and met people that i thought were golden. They accepted all of their commitments, but again, all of them had different excuses for conference yesterday and we only had one of them come with us to priesthood and one came to the session on sunday.
Wow what a conference huh? I really enjoyed listening to it. All of the american elders and some others who spoke english watched it in a different room. I wanted to be able to listen to it in spanish, but i got a ton more out of it by listening to it in english. I called it "el salon para los gringos!" haha. Wow elder holland's talk in priesthood was so legit. actually all of priesthood was legit. and i enjoyed all the sessions and took tons of notes on how i can be a better missionary.
On wednesday we went to a member's house for lunch, but i had eaten 10 tacos with one of our investigators like 2 hours before, so i was already pretty full. haha. When we got there, she served us the nastiest soup i have ever smelled and tasted. I literally almost threw it back up into the bowl about 3 times. (mom i hope that you aren't editing my letters for the general public.) haha. Ok so then after that she fed us straight rice. plain. a whole plate! Then fish with the biggest mound of zuccini and cactus and corn. Rebecca jensen would have been so proud of me because i pounded all of it! Sorry rebecca that i never ate your zuccini! haha. Needless to say i was feeling so sick. We left in a hurry and ran to a member's house and all i could say to him was "Puedo vomitar en su Baño?" haha.
Well dad to answer your question, i am in the bario fresnos and i attend church in satelite. I was pretty bummed yesterday because for three weeks now none of our investigators have been keeping their commitments to come to church. I sat down with my district leader and we listed the things that i need to do in my companionship. We concluded that i needed to start taking the lead and not letting him control everything, like the length of our lessons. But i couldn't be too sad because conference was just way legit. We did have such a spiritual experience with margarita the other day. She had a dream how she was at the gates of heaven and the guy said 'you cant enter yet. you arent ready'. And then we showed up at her door and started teaching her exactly what she needed to be ready. I felt the promptings of the spirit to read 2 nephi 31, the last verse that says how this is the only path and the only way we can enter into the presence of god and it's the true word of god. We then sang her a hymn and she was crying. It was a way spiritual experience. The next day when we went back to her house, her daughter had shown her a bunch of anti mormon literature on line and she is now "all confused". well we figured out that she had read the book of mormon and asked to know if it is true. Without that sure witness, anyone will fall to the junk that is put out there on the internet. I asked her if she would rather read the words of god found in the book of mormon, or read the words of uneducated prideful people. We are going to meet with her today, so i dont know, but it isnt looking so great.
Right now we are getting our butts kicked and satan is working hard on the people, but we need to be more like elder holland. I need to stop worrying about my spanish and just talk!! well i hope that all is well!
Sure love you all!
Elder Holmes
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