First Letter from Mexico!

Well Hey family!
So it has been a full week here in Mexico!  As you have probably figured out by now, mondays are my p days, but it definitely doesnt feel like a pday thus far.  So i have been assigned to the city of queretaro, which is the furthest away from the mission home and offices. so yeah i dont receive mail until someone from the office brings it up here, which sounds like that happens only about once in a blue moon (3 months to be exact!)  so it doesnt sound like i will get too much, but if anyone does want to write, i would suggest dear elders because supposedly those come every week to the office and then they just hold them until someone comes to queretaro!

Ok I want to start off by saying happy birthday to humongous Lee and to Cbear! btw’s sweet arm christian! way to go you tool!  Make sure all of the girls take really good care of you though! haha.  I hope you both have a great bday on wednesday.
Alright so i arrived here on monday and we went right to the presidents house for interviews and dinner!  they are great people and all went well there.  the next day we went over to the church and had a little training and then received our new companions.  mine is named elder castillo.  yes he is a native.  and yes it has been a pretty quiet week for me! haha. there were four natives in the group and 9 other americans and i ended up with one of the natives!  i guess the lord knew it would be good for me, huh?  so we then took a three hour bus ride up to our mission and got to our house.  On the way up my companion was telling me how nice our house is and what not and then when i got there i was like really this is considered nice?  haha.  but i think it is pretty nice, i mean the bathroom sink has been ripped off the wall and i have killed at least one cockroach everday so that is real nice.  the first thing i saw when i came in was a cockroach running over all the food! that was really comforting! haha. 

We went out tracting that night and we met some really nice people and what not.  The people here are way nice and literally every single house feeds us.  we are definitely not going hungry and i am probably gaining even more weight. so this last week we were supposed to have 8 investigators at church and we had set 2 new baptismal dates for these two awesome people that we ran into.  but come sunday, we only had 1 person in church.  at least it was our baptism that we have lined up for next week.  the goal of the mission is to baptize someone every week and have 3 new baptismal dates and 3 new people attending church everyweek.  it is definitely possible but you need to work really hard,  that is for sure. 

Well this week sure has been a pretty tough adjustment.  i feel like the awkward missionary who just kind of creeps in the corner because i literally have no idea what they are talking about like half of the time!  I just want to talk so bad sometimes but i dont know how.  i feel that my spanish is coming along though.  I study with one of the ladies who is in our ward who also speaks english.  She is a pretty good help for me but there are so many stinking words in spanish and so many rules! haha. 
This was my letter to the president where i explain some of the things we did. I’ll include it so i dont have to type it twice: "Well this week has been quite the adjustment but i have had a good time with our investigators and teaching people (well as much as i can at least).  I was able to extend the commitment for a baptism this week with two of our new investigators and they seemed like they were just golden.  We called them on saturday night and they had read everything we told them and said they were going to be ready for us to pick them up the next morning.  the next morning when we went to pick them up, however, the mom was with her mom, who was sick in another town.  I hope that is the truth because they seemed really interested and i knew they felt the spirit.  We also have been teaching a lady named Xotchitl who is way awesome and is going to be baptized this upcoming sunday.  I was able to share testimony with her about Christ and also share some scriptures with her.  My contacting is coming along as well!  I have contacted a lot of people and most of them have said we could come share a message with them!  we are doing well but we need to figure why most of our investigators didnt come to church!"

While we were in the MTC, we watched a video by elder bednar, who told a story of some missionaries who came to his house and stayed there for almost two hours, and then at the end asked for references.  Bednar said, "i would never give my references to you missionaries".  he then went on to explain how they weren’t obedient and are spending way to much time in the members houses.  he closed by saying you need to always ask yourself "how is this adding to your purpose as a missionary".  i decided then that i would never be that missionary, that i would be focused and do what i am here to do.  i just know that when you are exactly obedient, then miracles will come. 

Well it has been hard but a good kind of hard.  i feel awkward and cant really talk at all, but i try, and i am happy, so i guess thats all you can ask for.  without the lord's help i wouldnt be able to do this work.  the gospel literally changes peoples lives!
and yeah my stomach will never be normal again! The food is pretty dang good though. We are in like a rich city i think!  i love you guys a lot and i sure do miss everyone!  i need all the prayers i can get for my spanish so keep me in your prayers each night! haha.

Love,
elder holmes

SCOTT IS ON HIS WAY!

Many of you have asked when Scott leaves for Mexico.......Just to let you know, he flew to Mexico this morning at 9:50. He was able to call his family from the airport and it was great to talk with him. He sounded so good. He was his happy self and very ready to start his new life as a missionary in the Mexico City North mission. Scott wanted me to let you all know how much he has appreciated the letters and goodies that you have sent his way! He is so grateful for the love and friendship that you have all shared with him. It will take a bit longer for letters to reach him now, but please know that he will appreciate your letters now more than ever. I have updated his blog with his current address. He sure loves you all. From Scott, and from all of us......thanks for your love and support, and for everything you do to help and encourage him to be his best.

Pretty Pumped up and Ready to Go!

Hola familia!

Well so to start things off, we have still not gone up to the consulate to get our visa's and we were supposed to go up today but they rescheduled it for tomorrow, which sounds like it will definitely happen then. We got our flight plans last week and it has us scheduled leaving the mtc at 6 in the morning on monday, with a 9 or 10 o'clock flight out of utah, with a direct flight to mexico city. I don't know if that will still be the case since we are getting our visas so late, but if that is, then I will be calling you monday morning anywhere from 7-9, i guess. If not then, it will kind of be a surprise call sometime next week, because i have no idea when they are going to reschedule my flight! Maybe i will have to stay longer. Who knows! But hopefully, i am rolling on monday, because i am pretty pumped up and ready to get out of here, for sure.

Well i have put on 10 freaking pounds since i have been here! 10 pounds! I was outside playing soccer for the past two weeks and then this week, i went into the gym to weight myself and i have packed on 10 pounds. I mean, how am i gaining weight. All i do is sit in the same place for 10 hours everyday! For breakfast i have a bunch of sugar coated cereal. For lunch it's usually just a hamburger with some ice cream and cookies and chocolate milk, and for dinner it's more meat or pizza with a bit more ice cream and cookies! I don't get it! haha. I actually broke one of the waist bands in my pants the other day so that was flippen awesome! I had to take those in to get fixed! Elder Pinho, the guy from Brazil in my district, calls the fat that hangs over your pants, your fanny pack, so we tease about that all the time! Don't worry though, i will just find a worm or something to eat down in Mexico that will eat all the food for me in my stomach! I will surely lose some weight that way! haha.

Well this week has been a pretty fun week! The guys in my district are the best and we all have an awesome time together! I have continued my dominance on the soccer field with a hat trick the other day out there on the field! And the dominance in my lessons has started to come a bit this week. After that terrible lesson i told you about last week, i worked really, really hard and studied hard for my next lesson. The next day we taught that same teach again and he told us that is was one of the best lessons that he had had since has been in the MTC! That was a nice little pick me up! I feel like it is coming along, but i still just throw around unconjugated words like it is nobodies business. We have had some awesome firesides from some people in the 70, and have had some great testimony builders for me! Most of the talks have been on faith! That really is the first principle of the gospel, and with faith, we can do anything!

Well sounds like everyone is doing just swell! Hopefully the next time i write, i will in in MEXICO baby!!

Love you all,
Elder Holmes

Putting My Ear Plugs In!

Hey Guys!

Well I would like to start off with a big Happy Birthday to Little Lee Holmes! Man the big 16 is huge! Watch out girls he is now on the market for the hot dates! Make sure your first date is mom though! Let me know how the day goes for you! It sounds like you had quite the party last night with rob!

Well To start by answering some questions! About the consolate, no i haven't been up to it yet! I am starting to get a little nervous because the two elders in our district that are going to tanners mission went up like 2 weeks ago but we haven't yet. I talked to this one kid who said that they didn't go till like their last week because one of the guys in their district turned in there papers late so they were waiting till the last possible moment to bring them up waiting for that guys visa to come in! I sure hope we did everthing ok though and its not mine they are having a problem with! haha. And also no, that kid with the broken collarbone didn't have to go home. he is just in this crazy contraption for like 6 weeks!

Well i had a little bit tougher week this week! I taught one of the WORST lessons the other day! And the thing is is that i thought i had prepared for it and was ready but when i got in there i just couldn't remember anything in spanish and i was just a total newb! It was so frustrating and really got me pretty upset because i study hard. Well after that i went to the store and bought some ear plugs and put them in and haven't really talked too much to anyone since! Just trying to pound it in my brain i guess! I don't really have the best brain for this stuff! My companion has the kind of memory where he looks up a word once in the dictionary and he has it memorized forever, where i will look up the same word about 6 times and still not know what it means when i see it! But i guess all i can do is ask the lord for help and work even harder!

We got to host the new missionaries yesterday which was really fun! I didn't have any new friends come in but i met a couple of really nice new elders as i was welcoming them in! It feels like yesterday that that was me coming into the mtc! Man time has really flown here and before you know it, i will be in Mexico having even less of an idea of what the people are saying, but it will be awesome!

Well There were so many emails that i had to read today so i didn't get too much time to write but i hope that all is well at home! I will write you a letter dad and let you know what i think about your talk if that is ok! Well what the heck are the brothers doing! I only have like a week left in here to recieve mail and then i get to mexico where it could take 3 months to get! haha. I only have one p day left!! crazy stuff!! well I had some great spiritual experiences this week reading the scriptures, and we had a great talk by cecil o samuelson, the pres of byu, about being a good example even when we aren't being watched! The Lord is always watching and knows each one of us personally! Keep having fun without me!! haha.

Love,
Elder holmes

"Awesome, as Always!"

Hey fam!

Well it sounds like everything is going just great for all of you guys and i am jealous that you have gotten to take the boat out a couple more times! And with Jimmer! that is pretty legit! That stinks so bad that the camera fell into the water! I bet it is getting pretty tempting to just whip mine out from storage isn't it! haha.

Well mom thanks for the package you sent. The family reunion shirt is so sweet! I have already worn it like 3 times!

Well this week has been awesome, as always! I have seen Brother and Sister Lawson a couple times already and probably will see them a couple more, because they don't leave till monday! That was fun to see them. i have also seen Lauren Cochran's grandparents in here a couple times which is way fun, but it brought some big flash backs of the old BYU days and going there for dinner and games! They are way nice and they are going to the same mission as Elder Neuberger! I saw him today for the first time, because he just got in here yesterday! He seems to be doing awesome and is on the same floor as my buddy Elder Maguett! Good guys! Also one of the classrooms next to me is Elder Prete who was on my hall at Byu so i see him a bunch.

Well as i was out tearing it up on the soccer field this week, of course with all of the recruiting agencies there watching from the sidelines! (haha) the other Elder Holmes broke this kids clavicle! For some dumb reason we can't use our heads when we play, so it is way more dangerous! The kid was the goalie and elder holmes went up to hit it with his chest and just leveled the kid! It looked wicked painful! The only good news about this whole thing was that while he was rolling on the ground, i did get the goal!! haha. It reminded me of the movie Kicking and Screaming where Will Ferrell gets all of the kids together and on three they all say "break some clavicles!"!!

Well the studying gets extremely long some days and by the time night comes i am just so dead and exhausted! The days go by a little slow but the weeks seem to go by really fast! They just started a new curriculum on wednesday for all of the elders, which seems to be pretty rigorous. Instead of just teaching 2 to 3 times a week, we are going to be teaching every single day! That should definitely help out my spanish progress for sure.

As to answer some questions, Elder Neeley went to fresno california and elder kofford went to salt lake city, so i won't be seeing either of them, well at least for 2 years! I have been receiving lots of nice letters! I enjoyed reading a nice letter from Janice this week and also from the Stutz family! Thanks for keeping me updated on elder stutz and elder cassity, mom. it sounds like they are both doing such amazing things!

Well, Things are way awesome here and my testimony is strengthened Everyday! I love reading about Joseph Smith! He did see God the Father And Jesus Christ! I love you all and i hope this next week is a good one for you all!

Love Elder Holmes