A Couple of Great Weeks for Elder Holmes!

Hi everyone!  Here are bits and pieces from Scott's last two e-mails.  Our family has been in Canada (of course, Scott references that here!)  Hope all is well with each of you........

JANUARY 21, 2013.........Well I am not going to lie, I am pretty dang jealous about where you guys are at, and it has definitely been hard to not think about it this last week that is for sure. I thought it was a even a bigger smack in the face when I saw that you guys went curling! Everyone in the family ALWAYS made fun of me when I would watch curling in the olympics and laughed when I said that I wanted to do it! Well thanks for inviting the one who has really wanted to curl! haha. It looks like you guys are just having an awesome time up there. I hope that you are all getting along, as well! You know me, the peacemaker!!!

This week was pretty uneventful, and I don't really have too much to write about. My comp only has a week left of the mission, and he is getting excited for his parents to come down here and pick him up. He has finished his mission off strong, and I am proud of him.

I would like to just take a little bit of time to thank my Uncle Lee. I heard that he will be going in for another surgery soon, and when I heard that I felt so bad for him. Uncle Lee I love you a bunch, and I don't know how you do it. I hope that you know you are in my prayers, and the sacrifice that has been made in behalf of my dad and my family has not been made in vain. You taught me what the words love and sacrifice really mean. Thanks for everything that you have done, and I pray for you every night. Thanks Uncle Lee.

Also I want to congrat Nathan Jensen! That is so awesome about your mission call to serve in Taiwan. You will love it, and just know that the Lord sends us to the place where he needs us most. You will be a great missionary! Love you bud! Great decision that you made!

Love elder holmes

JANUARY 28, 2013............Hey guys,

Well the pictures that you guys sent me looked absolutely gorgeous. I hope that you all just had an amazing time. I still can't believe still that you went without me, but I guess I will get over it some day! haha. I also want to make a couple of Birthday shoutouts! I missed Sean Cassity's birthday on the 25th. I hope that you had a great day. Man you are getting old! haha. Also Bryan Padua on the 2nd and Mary on the 3rd. I hope you guys have a great day. I am thinking about you! Feliz Cumpleaños!

So Elder Hoopes just left today! It was a sad departure, but I will see him for the last time next Sunday! He finished his mission this week but is touring around with his parents.  You guys will not believe who my comp is now!! It is my good friend Elder Hyde! He was with me down in Tepalcapa. I watched him be born (in the mission sense! haha!) He is a great elder, and we are super excited to work together. I am sure that you guys kind of remember that name, because I always talked a lot about him, but next week I will send you a foto so that you guys can remeber what he looks like. He should bring some great excitement to the area! 

As for the week in the ward, it went pretty well for us! About three days ago we were walking down the street when a lady who was standing in her door contacted us, and invited us in. She started to explain many different problems that she had in her life, and she just looked super sick. She told us how her husband had left her six months ago, she is bipolar, and has a bunch of other diseases. We prayed with her, invited her to church, and invited her to be baptized! She accepted everything, but we weren't too sure if maybe we just found her on one of her good days!! The next day we met with her again, and when she answered the door, she looked completely different! She was all dressed up and smiling. We also noticed a man in the kitchen when we walked in. She said, "God has worked a miracle, and now my husband is back with me in the house!" We sat down and talked with both of them, and the husband also accepted everything! Then on Sunday we went to pick them up for church. For many people it is hard to go to church, because it's at 8 in the morning. Especially for older people. But when we passed by they were both ready to go! They said that they loved church, and we have a cita with them this Tuesday, so we will see how things go with them! It was a great experience!

Well, I'm loving the mission and the awesome experiences I'm having. I love the chance that I've been given to help people change their lives!  Keep being strong members of His church, and keep the faith!  I love you all.

Love, Elder Holmes

A GREAT WEEK

Hi family!

Today was an extremely busy p-day, and we are just getting back from playing soccer all day.  We also went to eat with some of the elders. It was a really fun day and I was able to try the new soccer cleats that you guys sent me for Christmas, which were super awesome. So I really don't have that much time to write again, and it is now kind of hard to write for a long time, because my comp doesn't really need to write because he goes home in 2WEEKS! So he just kind of sends them an email saying hi and then just waits for me to finish.  I gotta say that he has had it pretty nice, because he is finishing off the mission well! 

I say he is finishing well, because we had an extremely spiritual baptism yesterday of the Familia Amaya and Claudia. We had the service at 4 in the afternoon, and a bunch of the ward members came. The whole entire room was filled with people, and all those that were getting baptized felt great on their special day. The spirit that was felt is unexplainable.  For sure, not even a non member could have denied the amazing spirit that was felt. We had Koskanny (our recent convert of about a month) give a message before the baptism. He stood up and gave one of the best talks that I have ever heard on baptism. He then shared an awesome testimony as to how he knows the church is true and he told this little family how they will never regret the decision that they were making on this day. He shared how he is the only member of the church in his family, and how the other members of his family really didn't want him to get baptized. He also shared some of the trials that he has had since the day of his baptism, but that he knows the church is true, and that's what really makes him happy! He almost got me to cry! I'll tell you, the spirit literally just hit me like a train. Right after that, the ward mission leader asked Claudia and Viviana to share how they were feeling on the day of their baptism. Claudia got up and started to talk about the Holy Ghost. While she was explaining how her heart felt like it was about to come out of her chest, she just broke down into tears. I don't think there was a single dry eye in the room. Then Viviana got up and told everyone about the dream she had had of her baptism day. She was also crying, and all of them testified of the spirit that was being felt. In this moment, I  felt a happiness that I believe can't be felt in any other place, or in any other time of one's life. How amazing is the feeling of knowing that you have helped someone find the path back to our Heavenly Father? It truly is amazing to be a missionary and to help these amazing people in their search for the truth. I will for sure send you guys the pictures today of all of the events of the week. 

After all of that success, we really don't have any one else in our teaching pool right now. We have to work super hard in these next couple weeks to find those who the Lord has prepared next. Oh and before I forget, I also wanted to thank today all of the people that helped my mom out in creating that wonderful book she sent me with the favorite quotes of all those that read my blog. I really have enjoyed reading them and they have also helped me in my teaching ability. I have been able to share those quotes with many of my investigators and elders in my zone. Thanks for taking the time to do that for me. 

Dad I think you would be happy to know that I did the fun egg trick with the broom in our recent Zone Conference. We talked about kicking/knocking Satan out of our lives so that we (the egg) can have a successful mission (the cup of water). They were all pretty impressed by it, and it was also a great moment this week where the spirit was felt. Many elders after came up and told us that it was the best junta they had ever attended. SO to wrap it all up, it was a GREAT week, but now we have to start searching for others who have been prepared to hear the message that we are so blessed to carry.  I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Holmes

Another Spiritual Week!

SO another spiritual week!!

I dont have too much time today because I got a bunch of letters from all of my bros and stuff, and I have to be going down to the state of Mexico in a couple of minutes so that we can go to a junta for the zone leaders.  But the best part of the week is that the family is still just progressing like crazy. We have seen so many miracles with them and the ward is being so extremely nice to them! This week I thought I would just share a couple of different stories that we had with that family. 

We went one of the days to drop off a couch that some people in the ward gave to them, and we went with a really solid member family. Viviana told us of a dream that she had and how she was in the pila bautismal and her friend Aaron (who died) was there watching as she entered into the water. They were all in tears explaining to us how they knew this was where God wanted them to be. On sunday they all came to church and they were inviting all of the members to their baptism next week. In church all of the members got together to see what kind of things they had extra to help out the family. They collected an extra stove, couch, table and some other small things like utencils. This family is so special, but they really don't like receiving things. They just like giving us stuff! haha. They didn't have anywhere for us to sit this last week so they went out to buy these little chairs that we could sit on so we didn't have to sit on the floor. And every single day this last week they invited us to eat. We tried saying that they didn't have to do that, but they just love giving us everything that they have. One day my comp said that my favorite food is green enchiladas and the next day, that is exactly what they made for us. I then told them one of my favorite foods, and sure enough, the next day they made my favorite! I can't believe how great this family is, and how prepared they have been to listen to the gospel!

SO our other investigator who is getting baptized is named Claudia. She wasn't progressing too quickly until this last week!  She is also way pumped about everything she is learning and has already invited all her non-member friends to her baptism next week in the church! We are just seeing some great blessings from our Heavenly Father! t The work is amazing!!!!  

Love,

Elder Holmes