I Have a Great New Area - Except for the Scorpions!

Hola, Hey there everyone. Thanks a lot for all of the fun pictures that you guys sent me today from Powell. It sure looks like you guys had a killer time and that you are all just living the life. I like how Nick just emailed me and was all sad that there weren't any more trips planned this summer. You have got to be kidding me! You guys pretty much traveled the whole world without me! But that is ok because my new area is really cool and I am really liking it! II is really touristy and all I ever think is how much dad is going to love this place! It is so him with all the little restaurants and the museos! There is a huge catholic church in the center of town and every weekend all the foreigners come in and they set up all of the tiangees and all of that jazz to sell stuff. We live just about 5 minutes walking from the center so it is really fun. However, I think our area is the biggest in the whole entire mission. We have a bunch of pueblos in our area that are all about 30 minutes by bus. It is so big because this actually used to be two wards. And the zone is also huge, so that means that I am going to be spending even more money! We are all over the place, not only with our area, but having to visit all of the different districts and to do all of their interviews, as well. It has been a busy week and i feel completely exhausted but I already think I will like it a lot. I have a really great zone. Well so on Tuesday we went to the df ("District Federal" -- which is like Washington D.C.) to go to the hospital with Elder Ocampo. He just had his surgery and with the doctor visit and all, they decided that he will be leaving tomorrow to go home to try and recover, and will then come back out on the mission. He kind of wanted that and he isn't too sad, so it is all good. It was fun to go to the df because that isn't a part of our mission. It is ridiculously big and fun to see all the people there. Anyway, because of all of the doctors visits and everything we had going on, it felt like we hardly had any time to work in our area. We have two investigators that are progressing really well and we are hoping to baptize them in the new church that is going to be dedicated on the 12th. Right now we just have a casa de oracion (house of prayer), but they have been building this beautiful church in the area and they are just going to dedicate it. We might be the first ones to baptize in it and go down in the history books! All of the members are really excited about it, and I think that our whole zone will be there to sing for the opening ceremonies or whatever it is called! I will send you guys a couple pics of the church as well! Ok so now on to the little scare of the week. I was studying the other morning and my comp got up from his chair and hurried over by my desk to kill a freaking scorpion that was crawling at me. I was freaking out! That was the first one that i have ever seen, but he says that that it is a weekly occurence in our house! Oh boy. I sure hope not. And wow, I can't believe that about Michael Phelps. What is he doing! Thanks for the olympic updates, mom. And finally, that is great news that everything went well with grandad. Please tell him that I sure love him. I love you all so much, and I really love the work of the Lord. I am so happy that I am here, and the time just keeps going by even faster and faster. I wish it wouldn't go so fast, but that's the mission, I guess. I love my Savior Jesucristo and I know that we will be happy when we follow his example and teachings. It really is that easy! love you all, Elder Holmes so here are a bunch of the pics of the new church, me saying bye to everyone, the freaking boss trophy reyna made me, the angel de independencia (some of the pics didnt turn out as well because something that i have learned is that mexicans aren't the best at taking pics! haha. youve got to love them though!), and one with ros and me in front of our new house.

A Tearful Goodbye to Lomas

What is up!! Well this week was a pretty good one, but also a pretty sad one. I had a bunch of pictures that I wanted to send to you guys, but I forgot my camera in my house! Ok well as you can tell from the name of my email, I left my area of Lomas. I will tell you a little bit about my new area, and then I will let you know how everything went in my last area. Right now I am actually with two comps. One named Elder Neyra and the other is named Elder Ocampo. I think that Elder Neyra will be my permanent companion because right now Elder Ocampo had knee surgery and we are going to go to the df tomorrow to check out what he is going to do. They might be sending him home. My comp has 20 months in the mission and is from Tijuana. The other, Elder Ocampo is from Oaxaca and has about 18 months in the mission. They are both really nice, and I think that we will get along just great. I am now in the zone of Cuatitlan and I am in the area of Tepotzatlan. It is a really pretty place, and it is actually a really big tourist place, so everything is like really classic Mexico! Where we live is pretty boss as well and the streets are really dope. I think I am going to like it a bunch. Ok well now on to the goodbyes from my ward of Lomas. Everyone was extremely sad to see me go. Even people that I really didnt even know started to cry when they were saying bye to me. I was impressed with how many people commented to me on the hard work that I had done. Sometimes as missionaries, we don't really realize that the members see how hard we are working, or not working, even if they aren't working with us. I had some really nice comments and another great experience with my Bishop. He and his wife both cried a little when they said bye to me, and I really enjoyed working with them as well. So after all of the meetings, we went to go say bye to Reina. I didn't think that I would cry leaving this area, but I was extremely wrong. haha. When I walked into their house, they had posters all over the wall wishing me good luck, and then she put on this slideshow that she had made me, and gave me one of the coolest gifts I have ever received on the mission! I will send pics of all of this next time, and you will have to see the slideshow she made me when I get home. Just saying bye to her was so hard, because everthing she always did for us, and how solid they are in the church. They are some of the greatest blessings I have received on the mission. Well after that, we went and visited Carmen and her mom, and other families in the ward that I got really close to. Carmen gave me a nice cologne, and they were also extremely grateful for everything that we did for them. They always call us their angels. They are also a great family. Then I also said bye to one of the youth in the ward, Victor, who always went out and worked with us. He also started to tear up and almost made me cry as well. Every one else I had already said bye to in the church because I just didn't have enough time to say bye to all of them. Well also one of the hardest things was saying bye to my comp Elder Hirst. He is a great kid and one of my best friends, for sure. I can't believe how close we became in just 3 months. I love the kid and it was hard leaving him this morning when he went to drop me off with my new comp. Ros also went to drop me off and it was a little emotional saying bye to him as well. He is one of my good friends, and I am definitely planning on seeing him after the mission as well. Let's just say that it was a little emotional with everyone! I understand now why everyone says the mission is the best two years of your life. I told my comp after leaving Reina's house, that there is NO feeling better then what I had just felt. It was a happiness that I can't even explain, and it is something that you could never feel in any other place. Wow, the church is true and I love the mission so much. Good luck getting me home! haha. So now I am off to my new adventure in my new area. I love you all, Elder Holmes p.s Mom you are going to be wicked proud of me because this week I had some spare time in the church so I sat down and learned how to play "Nearer my God to Thee" on the piano. I play it pretty well, and I wish I would have listened to you more. haha.

The Flood!

Hey guys! Ok well this weekIi have a lot to tell you guys so i hope that there is enough time to get all of it said! But to start off, Happy Birthday to Grandad on Wednesday! I love you so much Grandad, and I will be thinking about you a lot, of course, in this week. You are such a special person, and one of my heroes in life. Ok, so to start off with a funny story that happened to us during this week. The other day we were leaving the house, and all of a sudden I hear Elder Hirst getting all ticked off. I turned around to see that he had been hit right in the shirt with an egg! haha. I almost peed my pants laughing, and it was this little troublemaker that lives right in front of us that threw it! He is always doing a bunch of junk, and we wanted to go pay him back a nice one, but with us being missionaries and stuff, we can't really do that! Now onto the really cool experiences of the week. First was the baptism of Reina´s sister, Lorena. She progressed great in this last week, and was able to be baptized on Saturday night. Lorena is the one that can't really speak too well, and when we first got there, she was really shy and didn't really want to talk to us, but she really warmed up to us and all of the people in the church as well. They even gave her a calling as well yesterday, right after they confirmed her, so that was pretty awesome! She is happy and feels like a big space in her life has been filled. But there was a story about the baptism which was another crazy story. We went to the church at 12 to start filling up the pila (font). There is a security guard there that works 24/7, so we left him in charge of turning off the water when it got filled to the top. We told him that we would be back at six to set everything up for the baptism at 7. So when we get back at 6 o clock. There is water pouring out the front door of the church! Every missionaries nightmare! The security guy says, "I went into clean the sacrament room and when I came out, it was flooding!" There was so much water in all of the church though, and I am almost positive that the guy fell asleep and forgot about the water. I would say there was a solid inch or two of water in every room of the church, besides the sacrament room. Wow! That was really hectic. We didn't even start the baptism until 8 because of all of the cleaning that we had to do, but it ended up being a way spiritual experience so it is all good! Reina was so happy to see her sister enter the waters of baptism. She has now shared the gospel with her son, daughter in law and her sister. How cool is that? The other family that we are teaching didn't come to church with us this week, so we will have to see what is up with them this week. I will let you know how our visits with them go. We brought these two other people to the church and they really liked it as well, so i will keep you posted on how everyone is progressing. I would imagine that the next week will be the last week that I write you from this area. I think I will be rolling in 2 weeks, which I am kind of sad about, because I really love this place, and my comp! The members are great, and really help us out a lot with everything. So today for p-day we went to the pyramids again! It was really fun! Our zone leaders had never gone, so they asked President if we could go as a district, and he gave us permission to go. We rented out this little van for about 110 pesos each person to go down there, and then we just spent the day down there again. It is a really cool place and there was only one thing i wanted to buy.... A mexican poncho! haha. There was this sick one, but they were all trying to sell it to me for like 400 pesos. I told myself that I was not going to buy it unless they offered it to me for 200 pesos! I went to every single little store that had them and the closest I got was 220. So I was going to walk away empty handed when this guy chased me down and offered it to me for 200! haha. Jackpot! It is a sick one and you will see the picture of it today! Well i love you all! The church is true, and Mexico is boss! Love, Elder Holmes

Another Great Week in Mexico!

Well first off I can't believe that Lee is taking the boat out by himself! Are you kidding me? How old is he now, anyway? To me, he still seems like some little kid! haha. I do know that he is growing up just like the rest of you, but just make sure that he doesn't crash the boat! haha. Well thanks for all of the emails, and I can't believe that Nick is actually in Fiji. That just kind of blew my mind. I thought it was a joke because I always wanted to go to Maine and I never went! And that is in the U.S. What is that all about? I told Reina and her family that my brother was in Fiji and that it was because he is the consentido of the family (spoiled one)! haha. I went on to tell them about all my brothers and how Lee is the popular one who gets all the girls, Andrew is the smart and successful one, Christian is just the boss of the family at everything, and then they asked me what I was. I told them that I was the mancha (kind of like the black sheep)! HAHA. They got a good kick out of that! They are a reallly fun family, but right now they are kind of passing through a tough time and Reina is a little stressed out with everything. Gerardo and Rocio are looking to rent their own house because they don't really get along with Reinas other kids, so we are trying to help them through it! So we do have a new president down here in Mexico and it is the person that was rigged to win it!! Everyone told me that it didn't even matter how they voted, that this Peña Nieto was going to win it all. Supposedly in other parts of the country it was pretty dangerous, but here it was super calm and I forgot that they were even voting. They had a lady running for president named Josefina that I wanted to win because she was the mas guapa! haha. Well so on to the milagros of the week! This week was pretty boss! Lorena (the sister of Reina) is going to get baptized on Saturday and going to get confirmed on Sunday if everything goes well! Pretty cool huh! Also the two little milagritos from last week got confirmed yesterday and they are both doing really good. They actually have an older brother who came to play soccer with us this morning at the church, who was baptized with the mom around 6 years ago. Now we are just preparing him to receive the sacerdocio (priesthood). Ok now so onto the best miracle of the week. I was on splits like a week ago with my zone leader and we were working in my area. We were about to head to the church for a entrevista when I thought of some random lady that we should go visit. I was thinking in my head I have already been by there and she really doesn't want anything, and actually that was the same thing that my zone leader was thinking, because he had visited this same lady with me before, and she didn't seem too interested. But we went and yeah she rejected us like she always does, but as we were walking out of the privada (or her street) this lady came out and asked us if we were preachers. She told us how her best friend just committed suicide and that she felt an impression to come and talk to us when she saw us passing. The Lord works in mysterious ways but I know that we went with that old contact to be able to find this lady. She invited us in and we taught her and her family the plan of salvation and they are all super pumped. The mom, dad, and two of their kids came to church with us yesterday. Only one of their kids didn't come because he was a little bit sick. I think they really liked church, and the 19 year old kid came to play soccer with us as well in the morning. He is a way awesome kid. The only problem is that the mom and the dad have to get married, so we are going to talk about all of that this week, but I think they are really a great family! It was such a blessing and the Lord has so many people that are prepared to hear his gospel. He will always put us in the right place at the right time! Well I love you all! got to go! haha. love, elder holmes P.S. Check out this hamburger that we ate. It weighs 1 kilo! haha. I thought of nick. It had bacon, ham, cheese, and everything else nick would ever want! haha. We went with Ros and between the three of us, we didnt even finish it! haha.

I Can't Believe I Marked a Year in the Mission!

So yeah this week was pretty sick because those two little milagritas ("little miracles") got baptized!!!! We worked with them this week and they had already learned everything about the gospel, and they were extremely ready to get baptized! So that was really fun because my comp, Elder Hirst, got to do his first baptism! He was really nervous, but he did an awesome job, and the kids really love us! I can't believe what a miracle that was, and I was pretty excited for them yesterday. Also Hermana Rocio got confirmed. She was feeling a little sick, but she was able to come, and they are both doing great. My testimony has grown so much of the fact that when we do the things of the Lord, He always will bless us. Gerardo is happier than ever with his new job that is paying more then he has ever made in his life, and he has a lot of responsibility in his work! He is so awesome and his faith has grown so much over the time that he has started to learn about the gospel. Also Reina is doing awesome and wants us to start working with her sister and teach her the gospel, so that she can get baptized. The only problem is that she can't talk too well, so Reina translates to us what she says. She also loves the church and I think she could be getting baptized here pretty soon! So I saved the package you sent me for my year mark in the mission and opened it on Friday. I tell you, I opened my Jimmer jersey and I was sooooo pumped up! I will make sure to send you all the pictures of my year celebration. It was a really special day and we sure made it a good time. My comp said, "Wow you even have Jimmer supporting you on the mission! That must be nice! haha." My comp is a huge basketball player and a big Jimmer fan, so he was also pretty pumped about the jersey! haha. Anyway, Elder Cruz had told me to come home a little bit early that night so my comp could sign some papers for immigrations. We got back to the house early, and when i walked in, I smelled baked goods! I looked over to see some brownies with a candle, and Elder Cruz and his comp were hiding in our house! Elder Cruz still had a set of keys to the house so they snuck in to surprise me with some brownies! They then all signed my shirt and we had a nice burning ceremony on top of the house to celebrate the one year point of my mission! Major tradition amongst the missionaries. Then after they left, my comp and I ordered pizza and just ate that with some milkshakes that I made. We ate so much though, that the next day I felt a little bit sick! It was really fun though, and I can't believe that I already have a whole entire year in the mission. To answer your question mom, yeah I have liked my time as a district leader, but it sure is a lot of responsability and a lot of talking with the zone leaders. Sometimes I just wish I was just a normal missionary, but I love the opportunity that I have to get to know better and help the missionaries in my district. They are all really great people, and we are doing pretty well as a district. Well so that is pretty much it for me! haha. You guys have got to read the whole conference issue. It is amazing to review what our church leaders said to us just a couple of months ago. It is amazing how many things I don't remember them saying, but maybe that is just because I watched it in spanish! haha. Well, I love the church and I love the Lord. If this wasn't the only true church on the earth, I wouldn't be here. It has been raining EVERY DAY and we eat some of the nastiest things, but it is all worth it because I know that I am in the work of the Lord and that this is the only way people can be saved! I love you all! Elder Holmes

A Week Packed With Blessings!

Ok so this week was pretty packed with spiritual blessings, but I want to start off by saying that I have the best dad in the world. I felt bad that I didn't include that in my email last week, but I hope that you had an awesome day. You are one of the best examples in my life, and the reason why I have had the success that I have had in my life. I don't know where you got to be so smart. I hope that one day I will be able to raise kids in the way that you did, and also show the love and respect to my wife like you always did with mom. I don't think you could have done anything better in raising me and I am eternally grateful for what you have done. It was kind of weird not to be with you on father's day, so I just had to make my comp breakfast in bed instead! haha. Well So yesterday was the baptism of Rocio, and let me tell you something... It was SWEET! It was one of the most spiritual experiences that I have had here on the mission. One of the reasons was because I have been studying a lot the talks that were given in this past priesthood conference, that just talk about what the priesthood is, and why we have it. It was awesome to be able to see Gerardo exercise the priesthood that he had just been given about 3 hours before, when he was able to perform his wife (Rocio')s baptism! I have reallly learned a lot about the power of the priesthood, and what a wonderful blessing it is in our lives. A lot of times we take it for granted, but it really is the power of God on this earth to carry out His work! So Gerardo was just awesome and he had practiced the prayer and everything probably about 100 times. He kept asking me just to make sure he had it right! haha. But he did a wonderful job, and it was a great experience for everyone who was there. Ok Also something else that was really amazing were the miracles that just showed up at church yesterday. On saturday night, again we had no body progressing and had nobody to bring to church with us. I mean we have been working extremely hard, but really have been struggling on bringing new people to the church. By the way my comp elder hirst is my favorite comp and he and i get along so well! He is really nice and freaking hilarious. We are always just having a really fun time together. Amyways, so on Saturday, again we got down and began to pray together for miracles, and also in my personal prayers I was just pleading with my Heavenly Father for a miracle the next day at church. Well, we got to church and no one was there that we haven't seen before, until the second hour, when I see this less active hermana that I had visited just one time before! She has been going through a rough time lately, and has decided to come back to church, and to bring all of her kids along with her. She has two kids that have never been baptized and they have been to the church for the past couple weeks, and want to get baptized on Sunday! How crazy is that? NO one can tell me that God didn't answer my prayers on this one! I was so pumped, and the day was topped off with the baptism of Rocio! Wow what a day yesterday! Well that is about it! Can you believe that I am completing one year on friday!!! That is so nuts. Yeah we are going to be partying it up! I am going to burn one of my shirts and I think we might go for tacos with my zone leaders or something! Time flies too fast! I got a lot of work to still be done! Mom I did get the hump-day package, but I am not opening it until the 22nd! Yep I am pumped to see my gift from the jim jam! haha. love you all, Elder Boss Holmes

Two Weeks Worth of News from Mexico City!

Hi Family. Our family was in Mexico last week (Cabo) and so I didn't have a chance to send out Scott's e-mail. I'm including below his e-mail from last week and one from today. There are also some cute pictures he has included at the end. Thanks for your continued interest in Scott. We sure love you all.......Carolann Letter from Monday, June 4th, 2012 Well I am glad that you guys are just living the life down here in Mexico and that you all are just loving mi tierra! The funny thing is that my convert Andres and his wife were just in cabo 2 weeks ago. That would have been pretty cool if you would have run into them! I cant believe that you guys are so close to me, but at the same time so far. I tell everyone that you are down here and their first question is always, "are they going to come visit you?" I just tell them that you don't really love or miss me, so probably not! haha. Just kiddding. Well i want to give the birthday shoutout to Alex Holmes on the 5th and Jill Marler on the 8th of this week. I hope that they are special days for you both and that you know I am thinking about you down here in Mexico. Well I don't know what is up lately, but it has been extremely hard for my companion and me. We have been getting owned in these last couple weeks. But not to get too down, because there are still some positive things that are going on. To answer your questions about Rosio: she is pregnant and so she is always getting sick, and it is really hard for her to progress because she isn't able to come to church on Sunday. That pushes back the baptismal date that they have. But Gerardo said that he still wants to be baptized this next Sunday, so we will see what happens with him. Rosio has totally recieved an answer from God. We had this awesome experience with them that just grew her faith so much. Last Saturday Gerardo was really stressed out, as he has been looking for a job for a long time. We went over to his house and I told him that I was going to give him a blessing to help him find a job. He wasn't too excited because he was pretty bummed out, but during my blessing, I remember telling him that if he did the things that the Lord asks of him, then he will find a job. Well so Sunday he and his wife came to church and on Monday morning, Gerardo gets a call from two different places offering him jobs. He called his wife and told her and she said the first thing she thought about was the elders and the blessing that I had given to her husband. She told us that she felt something so amazing that she couldn't even describe it in words. It was a great testimony builder for me, as well, as to the power of the priesthood that we have, and that it is the only church on the earth that has such authority from God. Well other than that, we didn't have any new people in church on Sunday and we were pretty bummed out about the whole thing, but as I was reading in my studies that morning, I felt prompted that we should stop worrying, and just get to work. I have stopped worrying, and have just put my faith in God that He will help us when we are doing the things that He asks. Well that is about all that I have. I hope that you guys have a great trip, and just know that I love you all so much. Love, Elder Holmes Letter from Monday, June 11th, 2012 Hey! Happy birthday to my little brother today! I can't believe that you are already 19 years old bro! You could be leaving on the mission right now! That is a crazy thought, but hey i am glad that you aren't leaving till next year, because then maybe I will be able to see you! Also birthday shout out to the other Nick, that would be Nick Chilton on Wednesday! I also hope that you have a great day and to be honest, I don't really know how old you are turning, but I'm pretty sure it's old enough to at least get married! haha. Just kidding. NO pressure baby! Well the highlight of this week was that GERARDO GOT BAPTIZED. Yeah baby! It was a really special day for him. We had his baptismal service on Saturday and then he was confirmed on Sunday in church. We did it that way so he can baptize his wife this next Sunday, when he receives the Aaronic Priesthood. He is really excited and keeps telling me to teach him how to baptize! SO the service was reallly nice and a lot of people from the ward came to support him. He asked me to baptize him, which was kind of surprising because there were a couple members from the ward that he is really close with, but he wanted me to baptize him instead. He is an awesome guy and his testimony has grown so much over the time since I have met him. I remember when I met him for the very first time and all I could think was "this guy has got a long time before he ever really looks into the church seriously." But miracle after miracle passed with him and he was completely ready to be baptized on Saturday. He is an amazing guy and has helped us so much with his wife, as well. Well yesterday we received cambios, and the only change in our district is that Elder Hyde left. He was like my best friend here in the mission and it was really tough to see him go. He always was so pumped up and we got really close over the time that we have had here. SO I will be here in my area for another month and a half with my comp Elder Hirst and then I will be leaving here. Time is passing by really fast and I have loved the time that I have here with my comp. Well i cant really think of anything else that is new! I will let you all know the progress of Rocio this next week and if she also decides to be baptized! Your trip to Cabo sure looked like you all had a blast. I really appreciate the photos that you sent. I sure do miss the whole fam a bunch but I know why I am here and what I need to do. Love you all, Elder Holmes