The Best Week Yet!

Here is Scott's e-mail for the week.  We sure had a wonderful call with him on Christmas day and he is seriously living his dream!  He looks good and his spirits were high (no big surprise with Scott!)  He sure loves being a missionary!  Scott wanted us to pass on his love and appreciation for each one of you and wishes you a great 2013!

xoxo -- Carolann

Dear Family,

Wow what a fun time it was to talk to all of you on Tuesday! That was the best!  I forgot to tell you mom, how much I LOVED that book that you sent me with everyone's favorite scriptures, quotes and memories in it!  It was really fun to read through all of that.  Please tell everyone who contributed how much I loved it and thank them so much for me!  That was the best gift ever!  I can't believe how fast this last year has come and gone, but one thing is for sure... This was the year most full of spiritual blessings and the best year I have ever had as far as strengthening my relationship between me and our Savior. I love the mission and I'm seriously receiving tons of blessings from the Lord.  It's unbelievable. The time is just going by a little too fast. I love the great blessings that I have received and am so grateful for the WONDERFUL people we have met! 

Well so this week for many in our mission was kind of a tough one, because of all of the vacations and stuff, and most people haven't been in their houses, but for us it was one of the best weeks that I have had yet! We found some of the most prepared people that I have ever met in my entire mission!! SO let me tell you a little bit about them. On Wednesday we really still hadn't found anyone because of the holidays, but we had a reference that we had received from a funeral service that they had here in the stake. About two weeks ago, a joven of about 20 years old (named Aaron) died in a car accident. A week ago they had a funeral service for him, and we then received a reference of a 20 year old girl named viviana who was really good friends with Aaron. We went on Wednesday in the night, to find their humble little apartment. Viviana answered the door and immediately invited us in. We walked in and also met her twin sister Viridiana and the mom, Angeles, along with a little 5 year old boy named Salomon.  We started to teach them the first lesson when the mom interrupted us and said "I have already read your book and I already know that it is true". She then went on to tell us how the boy who had died told Viviana about a week before he died that he was going to give her a book that would change her life. He then died and was never able to give them the book. When they went to the funeral, a member of the church approached her and gave her the Book of Mormon and told her it was from Aaron. SO when they got home, they started to read the book as a family, and then we got there wednesday in the night. Throughout the whole lesson they were in tears and they told us that they were sure that all this was a sign from our Heavenly Father. The mom and the two twins accepted to be baptized, and it was an extremely powerful moment for all of us as we felt the spirit. Well, we put another cita with them on Friday to go back and meet her other two daughters, Angy and Luisa. Angy is 14 and Luisa is 17. We kind of had some doubts in our mind that they would also accept everything, but the second lesson was even better then the first one! At the end of the lesson we invited Luisa to say the prayer, and without a question, she started the prayer. About half way through she started crying and was thanking the Lord for sending her and her family these two angels that were answers to all the prayers that she has made in the last year! SO as you can imagine by this point tears also start to fill my eyes as I realize the work that our Father in Heaven is actively doing with his children, and how he sent us at the PERFECT moment to find those that need the gospel most. What an awesome experience it was. Walking out of the lesson we were on cloud nine, and had told them that we were going to pass by for them on Sunday. That always gets me a little nervous of the things that could happen to prevent them from going to church, but we put our faith and our prayers in the Lord, and when we went for them at their house on Sunday, they were all there waiting for us outside in dresses. I can't believe the blessing the Lord gave us this week! The mission is really the LIFE! They all loved church, and tomorrow we have another cita with them.

Well Happy New Year to everyone! I hope that you can all make your goals for this next year, and that you guys have a great night tonight. As for me and my comp, we have to be in the house at 7:30 so that is going to be a party! haha. I love you all so much,

Love,  Elder Holmes

Merry Christmas Everyone!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I want to wish everyone that is reading this card a very Happy Christmas, and I hope that Santa brings you everything that you guys have asked for! That is, of course, if you have been good this year.  I also want to wish Elise Chilton a Happy Birthday this next Sunday! i hope that you have a great day. 

Well I don't have too much time today, and the good news is is that I will be talking to you guys TOMMORROW!! I hope that you guys are all excited, and that you get some good questions to ask me! This week was extremely busy and a really fast one that went by. I can't believe that it is already Christmas! I sure do miss you all, but one thing that is learned on the mission is the real importance of the holiday. What it really is all about, our savior Jesus Christ. What an awesome time of the year, and I hope that you all remember the WHY of such an important holiday. Because of Jesus Christ we as sinners can be forgiven of our sins and return to live with our Heavenly Father through the eternities!  What an incredible love that has been shown for us.

I am super wiped out today because we went shopping almost the whole day with our recent convert Adrian. I treated myself to some boss new pants and ties! haha. He is a really amazing convert. I was so blessed in meeting him and the miracle that occurred in his life and in mine, as well! I love you all and will see you tommorrow!

Love,

Elder Holmes

Wow! What a Week!

Here is Scott's letter for the week.  When he is talking about going to a meal with "Lino's dad" -- Lino is a good friend of ours here who was our family's home teacher for several years, before he was called into our Bishopric.  His dad was so nice to take Scott and his companion out this past week. You'll be able to read how much it meant to Scott. Hope you all enjoy a very merry Christmas!       With love.....Carolann

Hi everyone!

Well I think that you are going to be pretty shocked this week with a couple of the announcements that I have for you guys because last week I really didn't tell you guys too much about our teaching pool. First of all, I will be staying here in Queretaro with Elder Hoopes and I will end up killing him (being his comp as he finishes his mission) because this is his last change in the mission. I have never killed an elder before so that is going to be pretty exciting. Second of all, this week Lino`s dad took us out to eat this week!! I had forgotten that he was an ex seventy and ex mission president. What an awesome experience it was being able to talk to him and his wife! (I will also attach the fotos that we took with them when we went out to eat!) My comp was a little bit surprised when we first saw them because Brother Alvarez was all dressed up in a suit and tie, and his wife was in a nice dress. We touched on that topic later, and he commented on how special our calling is, and he would never disrespect our calling by dressing just in normal clothes!  I thought that was kind of cool. He went on to tell us a bunch of fun stories like when they went out to eat with some of the apostles or the meetings they used to have when he was a seventy of the church. At this moment, my comp and I were both feeling pretty special because he had taken us out to eat!!  We had a little change of plans and went to eat breakfast instead of dinner, so we went to the Ihop here!  Then after that they took us to a bread shop to buy all the bread we wanted! Wow what awesome people. Brother Alvarez reminded me a lot of Lino and what a nice man he is! He set for me a great example on how home teaching should be done. I am just realizing that i forgot Hno alvarez`s email address to send him the pictures so please tell lino to forward them to his dad! It was super nice of them to spend their morning with us!

SO Now on to the other part of the week! We had 3 baptisms this week!  I know that you are probably wondering where they all came from, and you are probably as surprised as I was on Sunday when Adrian and Koskanny (2 young single adults that were going to get baptized last week) came to church on Sunday and told us that they wanted to get baptized that same day! Wow! The good thing was that they had already had all of the lessons, and so we just rushed the district leader over to our church to do the interviews, and then into the water they went! It was amazing and so special.  They had a ton of their member friends there and there was a wonderful spirit.  The other baptism was for Iris and we had her baptismal service on Tuesday! Her Uncle was scheduled to come home from his mission on Tuesday, and she wanted to be his last baptism as a missionary. SO we rushed over to the church and when the returned missionary got to the church, Iris surprised him by asking him to baptize her! It was a really special occasion and both of them shed plenty of tears. After the baptism, he went to talk to the stake president and got released. At the Sunday baptismal service, the bishop baptized Koskanny and Adrian`s best friend, who has been a member for about one year baptized him. That is what the coolest part about working with the members is. They do all the work, and they are the ones that are so involved in the conversion of their friends and family! It is really amazing to see! i will send you some really fun pictures today of all of them! I love the work, and i love when the work is done with the help of the members. It really is a much stronger conversion for everyone! 

This next week is going to be a super busy one. Tomorrow we set up a service project for the whole zone. Thursday is the ward Christmas program/talent show, And Saturday is our Christmas party with president! Should be some fun stuff! Tonight we are going to do our act of service for a family in the ward and I will tell  you all about it next week and send you the pics! The work is awesome!

I love you all lots,
Elder Holmes

It's All Good Stuff Here!

Hey everyone,

Well to start off my letter like always, I want to wish the following very special people a happy birthday: Tammy Wonnacott, Marisa AND Miguel Holmes, Susan Lewis and Anthony Winters.  I hope that you all have a great day, and I want you to know that I am thinking of you all! Feliz Cumpleaños. 

This last week was a pretty eventful week. On monday we went down to the state of mexico to have the zone leader conference, like we do every month. It takes us about 5 hours to travel from our house here in Queretaro to the offices. We have to go in one of those nice fancy buses, which is kind of fun. Tuesday we had the junta and it was a really great one. I wonder if Hermana Call sent you guys all of those pictures or if you would like for me to send you them to you?  We came back home and on wednesday we gave a junta to the zone here in Queretaro. It was also a super spiritually uplifting junta, and I really do love getting to speak to all of the missionaries. ON friday of last week I also asked permission from President to go and work in my old area of Fresnos for the day! SO I did an inter-cambio with one of the missionaries there in Fresnos, and we spent the whole day working my old stomping grounds. I was able to visit many of my old friends, converts, and members. The one convert who i would say is doing the very best is the Hermana Yolanda. She is a really such an awesome lady, but her sons aren't attending much right now because they have to work on Sundays. I hope that they will put their pilas (translated means "batteries") back in! haha. 

SO Mom I see that you are already asking me about Christmas day! Do you think that I think that far in advanced? haha. I really still don't know what we are going to do. We are kind of wondering whether my comp or I will have changes this next week. We will see. For some reason, we kind of feel  a change coming on.  But I will for sure let you guys know what is up next week about all of that, and which family we are going to help! The ward here is going to have a fun Christmas party with a talent show. The missionaries are also going to participate in the festivities with a couple of fun ideas on how to find people. And who knows, if I am feeling good by then, maybe I will share with the ward my snorting the noodle talent!! haha.  

We have some great investigators still, but I don't really know what is up with a couple of them. I feel like we should have a couple of different baptisms here in the next couple of weeks! A girl named Iris should be gettting baptized this week, and two other guys who have a come a couple of different times to church. One of them is named Adrian and he is so awesome! He is the friend of one of the members, and he is loving the whole church thing. His friend is a convert of one year and one of the most solid members that I know. He is the secretary of the ward and also the president of the young single adults program. SO with those two callings, he is always in the church. SO adrian just kind of follows him around and literally, the kid is in the church or in a church activity every day! Anyway, yesterday he said he definitely wants to get baptized but that it might take him a little while, so we will see what happens there!  It's all good stuff here! I hope it is there too.

I sure love the Christmas spirit!!!! 

Love,

Elder Holmes

Blessings!!

Hey guys.  How's everybody.  I'm on a little early today and just received a nice letter from dad. I sure enjoyed hearing about his fun vacation that he had with andrew this last weekend. It sure sounds like you guys are just living the life! I am glad you got to have some good father-son time. I would sure like some of that right now as well! haha. But that will just have to wait. As for now, I love the feel of the Christmas spirit that is in the air, and I LOVED the conference that was given last night from the Prophet, Elder Eyring, and Elder Uchtdorf. What great messages they shared with us, and I was really moved by some of the different stories they shared. In this last week I remember actually talking with my companion about how sometimes when we receive a gift that we don't really want, we make a bad face or just pretend to like it. I loved the talk that Elder Uchtdorf gave about how we need to be more grateful for the things that we receive. That is a Huge part of the Christmas season. What a great way to start out the holidays! And just to let you know mom, I did get the first package that you sent, and we are really enjoying opening up all of the presents. 

So something that I wanted to address from dad's letter that he sent me was how he went to a spanish speaking ward with Andrew, and how for fast sunday all the members of the ward went up to bear their testimonies and how they all sat on the stand. That is something very typical here in Mexico.  I have never been in a fast and testimony meeting here without just a ton of people sitting up there on the stand!! That is why I haven't been able to bear my testimony too many times here in Mexico during fast and testimony meeting!  But it has sure taught me just how much we should always want to share our testimony with other people. It is always kind of funny though to see them all jammed up there on the stand. I love the mexicans!  They are my BOOOOYYYSSS!!  

This week was a pretty special week because EVA got baptized!! She is an investigator who the elders have had here for a while, but she finally decided to take the step and be baptized. She had a really special day, and a really special baptism. The only bummer of this week was that I haven't really been feeling too good lately. Just the other day they gave us our flu shots, and I think that also had something to do with it. I haven't really felt too good, but the other night I had a cool experience with the power of the priesthood. I was going to bed on Saturday night and I felt TERRIBLE. My entire body started to ache. I had a fever and a terrible throat. I felt impressed to ask my comp for a blessing. For some reason, I have never felt such great faith like I did in that moment when I asked him to give me a blessing. I absolutely knew that I was going to be ok and that I wasn't going to be sick when I woke up. In that moment, I just knew that God would do that for me. Right after the blessing, I went to sleep, and I woke up on Sunday feeling Great. I am so grateful for the priesthood that we have, and for blessings that are done with faith. We ended up having a great day as well yesterday in the church. A friend of one of the young single adults came named Adrian, and he seems to be like a great new investigator. We will see how things end up with him, and some of the other people we are working with. Oh and about finding a family to help for Christmas, I am still looking, and these next couple of weeks we are going to be working a lot with the less actives, so we will try and find a family! I also want to talk to the bishop about it!  I sure love you all!  I hope you all are feeling the Christmas spirit!! 

Love,

Elder Holmes