Que Honda!

 Scott with Yolanda and her family.

Scott with Marlen (who was baptized a few weeks ago) and her mother Felicitas.

Hey I want to just start off by recognizing my awesome Uncle Lee! I heard that you went through another tough hernia surgery and I just want you to know how much I love you and how often I think of you and the sacrifice you made for my dad and my family. Every time I talk about sacrifice here on the mission, I think of the great example you are. Sometimes we think life is hard, and many think living the commandments are hard, but they just don’t understand the meaning of the word sacrifice. If everyone could have a heart like you, Uncle Lee, this world would be a lot different, and we would sure see many more kind things being done. So thanks a lot bud, and I love you lots!

Now on to my exciting week! We didn’t have too much success this week because I felt like we were running from place to place, but we did end off the week with two amazing baptisms! The Hermana Felicitas and the Hermana Yolanda! I had the privilege to baptize Felicitas and a Bishop from a different ward (who is a good friend of Yolanda) got to baptize her. The Bishop of the other ward was actually the one who brought Yolanda to the open house with one of her daughters. Yolanda invited her whole entire family to her baptism, so it was a really special day for everyone! I was really grateful and happy to see all of the progress that the two of them have made in this last week! The story of Hermana Felicitas was really a great miracle that I will always remember. Her faith has grown soo much in this time and the last trial of her faith that she had was cutting out coffee completely from her life. Like I have mentioned before, her husband is really sick so Felicitas is up with him all night and has to help him with the dialysis of his blood 5 different times during the day. With such little sleep it is really hard for her to stay up and have the energy to keep pushing forward. Because of that she had been using coffee to help give her the kick during the day. Well with such great faith in this last week she told us that she had thrown it all away and that she wasn’t even going to look at coffee again. She was so determined on getting baptized, and that is exactly what she did. It was a really great experience and you could see the difference on her face the day of her baptism. 

Well we have a couple other people that are progressing and I think that a couple of them should be getting baptized as well in this week but I will let you know everything about them in my next letter. I like to leave you guys with a little of suspense, so you appreciate the surprises that I leave with you all. 

I gotta say when I saw the picture of lee in all of his football pads I was pretty jealous! I mean why in the heck didn’t I ever play football? You are definitely 10 times better looking than you really are when you are in all of your football pads! haha. I mean what girl doesn’t want a guy in those tight little football pants! Fetch i should have played football! haha. Thanks for all of the pictures! I am glad that you are all just having a great time! It would be nice if my other brothers remembered me every once and a while! haha. Like Nick I think he is just so wrapped up in the college life that he doesn’t even want to write me anymore!!! And lee, well i don’t even know if he is still alive, except for the photos! And Christian, I thought I was your favorite brother bro!!! 

Well I took all of my pants and my blue suit to get slim fitted. To be honest I have no idea who sold me the suit, but I think they measured the wrong guy! haha. They probably mixed up my measurements with a 300 pound guy because I was swimming in it my whole mission! 

More next week. I love you all,

Elder Holmes

VIVA MEXICO!

Well time is flying by really fast for me in my mission, and now one of the hardest things for me is to keep  in contact with everyone that writes me! I have been pretty lame and this is literally the only letter that I  have the chance to write every week! So I hope those that haven’t received a letter from me, don’t taken  offense. With the time, you really just lose yourself in the work. I don’t know where the time is going and  why it is passing by so fast! SO VIVA MEXICO to everyone! On Saturday, the 15th, we celebrated the Independence Day here in  Mexico and it was really fun to be in this area. Like I have told you guys, this area is really typical Mexico  and whenever there are fiestas, the whole town is transformed. There were a ton of people coming into  town this whole week and the center was a really fun site. There were a bunch of people selling and they  had live bands going on all day. Obviously, we didn’t have the time to check it all out, but the Hermana  Mayra made us a really typical mexican dish called Pazolli. She also made us something called chilles en  nogadas and they are extremely famous here at this time of year. If you were to go buy one of those chilles  in a restaurant, you would find them at about 200 pesos! So that was really nice of them. The bummer for  everyone else is that at 9 o clock it started to rain like crazy and I think it kind of pooped the party! haha.  It was a fun time to see all of the mexicans with all of their traditions during the week! So as for this week with the investigators, everything went pretty well for us. The hermana Yolanda, who  we found in the open house we did, is planning to have her baptism this week, as well as the mom of  Marlen (the 20 year old girl). Her name is Felicitas and she has also shown a lot of progress. So if  everything works out just perfectly, we should have those baptisms on Saturday in the afternoon! Be  praying for us!! Also we had a great find this week of a lady named Lucia and her daughter Leslie. They  were references from a young couple in the ward. This week the standards of excellence in our mission  changed a little bit, and now we have to have 20 lessons with members and we need to contact 10  references every week. It is a lot different than before and we are all focusing more on just working with  the members to have the success and to find the escojidos.  But anyways, Lucia and her daughter Leslie  accepted during the week to be baptized and they both came to church on Sunday. We had a super spiritual  experience with her, and she felt really amazing in the church. She and her husband need to get married, so  we will see how everything turns out with them.  Well this last week I pulled out 1200 pesos (almost 100 bucks) and that helped me buy a nice new man  purse that I use everyday, fix some of my pants with a seamstress, and buy three new long sleeve shirts!  We will see if I buy a new pair of shoes here in the next couple weeks, as well! This is my “happy birthday  to me”!!!  Love you all and miss you a bunch. Elder Holmes I can’t believe that I forgot to tell you guys about the talent show that we had as a ward about a week ago!  Obviously I had to show the ward how I could snort the spaghetti noodle up my nose and out my mouth!  haha! I was the hit of the show!!  Here is a photo of it, along with one of our entire zone of Cuautitlan,  and the best of all, when we went bowling today with some of the missionaries.  We had a great time!

"I Knew This Was Where I Needed to Be"

Scott mentions his birthday in his e-mail today.  It's not until the 22nd of October, but he is remembering how long the mail takes.  I know he would love to get a card from any of you who might have the chance.  His mailing address is: 

Elder Scott Holmes

Mexico Mexico City North Mission

Apartado Postal #98

54740 Cuautitlan Izcalli, Edo. De Mexico

MEXICO

Thanks for being so awesome in your support of him!  We sure appreciate it and love you all.

Carolann 

Well I want to say happy birthday to Eric Cassity and Joey Winters for this week, and I want you to know that I am thinking of you both and hope that you have awesome days this week!

Well as for me, I am pretty wiped out today, because we went to play on a brand new soccer field that belongs to one of the hermanos in our ward. They just built the field and it is directly behind our house! It is an astroturf field, and it is super dope! We had a lot of fun playing with some of the missionaries from the zone and the hermano that is from our ward. I played pretty well but got extremely tired, really fast, because I am extremely out of shape!

This week went pretty well for us, but we are also facing some difficulties in our area and in the zone. I dont have too much time to write today so it might be a little short, but I will let you know more next week on how all of our investigators are progressing. I do want to tell you one miracle that we had yesterday in the church. This lady, who is a family member of one of the members of our ward, came to the church all by herself yesterday. Her name is Maria, and she is pretty awesome! We were able to talk to her about baptism and also put a date with her to be baptized on the 23rd of this month. She told us "Yes I would love to be baptized. I don't even need to think about it. Right when I walked into this church, I knew that it was where I needed to be in my life." Wow! What an awesome testimony builder for me and my companion, that there are people that are ready and waiting, and all they need to do is enter God's church and they will feel it.

Well we aren't too sure about some of our investigators at this point, so I will let you know how they all progress next week. Sorry for the weak email, but right now a member is going to take us to the mall to buy a couple of things. Mom, don't worry about sending me anything for my birthday. The jersey for my companion should be just fine. He wants a small, long sleeved Rapids jersey. I think that today I will buy a couple long sleeve white shirts and maybe a pair of shoes. That will be my birthday gift! 

I sure love  you all a lot.

Elder Holmes

A Freaking Awesome Week in Tepotzotlan!

Well this week was a freaking awesome week here for us in Tepotzotlan.

On Saturday Mayra and Adriann got married!! It was a miracle, and we were extremely happy for the both of them! They seem extremely happy now, and i feel like we have really helped them change their lives. Also that very same day, Mayra and her daughter Laura got baptized. That was also an extremely special moment because Mayra asked me to baptize her, and my comp, Elder Neyra, baptized Laura. Hermano Adriann is progressing really well too, and he is still really excited about the church and also about getting baptized. This guy is a total stud. His first Sunday in the church he stopped smoking completely and after ten years of living with his wife, he got married on Saturday. I love him a lot, and i know that he will keep progressing just great. Just a little fun fact about Mayra and how awesome she is:  for the last two weeks she has been giving classes to the relief society on how to make diferent foods. Two weeks ago she did donuts and last week she taught them how to make empenadas. All of the hermanas already love her, and she feels really great sharing all her different talents with them, as well.

Now on to the other story, of Marlen. She also progressed really well in this week and we had a really awesome baptismal service for her on Sunday. Her dad was able to come (who is really sick) and i think that he really enjoyed it as well. We are going to keep working with her mom this week, and we will see how everything turns out. She is really awesome, and another miracle that my comp and I have received from our Heavenly Father.

So on Friday we had the zone leader meeting and it was fun to see all of the other missionaries that I have gotten to know throughout my time here in Mexico. One who has been a really good friend to me has been Elder Marquez. We were in Queretaro together and he taught me a lot of good stuff. SO in the junta on Friday, I was saying how sick it would be if we could be comps. I thought that there was no chance, but when they gave us the changes on Saturday night, they surprised us by moving Elder Neyra to Queretaro and putting Elder Marquez with me here. It was kind of a big surprise, because I thought that I was going to end up killing Elder Neyra (killing is used here in missionaries terms btw for when missionaries finish their missions). haha. But the change came as a surprise to many, and Elder Neyra left a couple different people here pretty sad. Elder Marquez and i have already started off great, and have been talking all day about everything new that has gone on. I think that we will have a really great time together with a lot of success! I will miss Elder Neyra, but the things always hapen for a reason, so we will see what the Lord has planned for us now!

I sure love you all,

Elder Holmes

so here are some of my pics from this week! the baptisms of marlen, mayra, and laura. A pic with elder marquez if you forgot what he looked like (the elder in the middle is also one of my good friends and they just called him as assistant.) and then one with a hermano in my ward who is really chill. His name is rafa! it was his birthday and i gave him my shirt because he really liked it when we played soccer one day. and also one last photo with elder neyra 

Go For The Gold!

I would like to start off this week by thanking everyone for all of the suppport that you have shown thus far in my mission. It really means a lot to me, and i sure can feel the power of all the prayers that have been offered in my behalf. And also i want to congradulate my cousin elise and her husband andy on the new baby! he is absolutely adorable, and i hope that everything goes well for you three as you are starting your precious family!!

Well this week for me was a very eventful week with all of the activities that were going on in the new church building and with all of our ward. On friday there was a social event for all of the members of our ward and the other ward that shares the capilla with us. We just played with the jovenes and everyone brought a bunch of food to have a really nice dinner.  Then on Saturday morning, all of the young men and women from the stake got together for three hours to do a big proselyting activity. Also all of the missionaries from our zone were there so it was about 22 missionaries and 200 youth with their parents! It was a really good experience but also a little scary at first when i had to teach all of them how to make contacts, and invite people to listen to the missionaries. If you think talking in front of about 200 youth and their parents is tough in english, you should try it in spanish! haha. But it went extremely well, and by the end, my comp and i had all of them laughing and excited to go out and talk with everyone. The purpose of the activity was to invite the people to an open house at the church at 5 o clock in the tarde. The activity with the young men and young women went extremely well, and we sang them a song at the end (all of
the missionaries) which left a bunch of the people crying! The bummer of all of this was that for the open house in the afternoon the weather was really crappy and so i think that is a big reason why not too many people came. Those who did come seemed to really like it, and we were able to get a couple of really good references from them. I will send some pictures along of the activity. Actually, in the morning when we were teaching all of the youth we did a practice in front of all of them of what a contact should look like and what we need to say. I was acting as the investigator in the practice and when they asked me my name, i responded that my name was "nacho" (the most mexican name you can get! haha).  Everyone started to laugh, and now all of the youth in the stake call me Elder Nacho. hahaha. I was in a different capilla yesterday to do some baptismal interviews and all the youth were calling out "Elder Nacho, Elder Nacho"!

Sunday was the first time in all my mission that a bishop has invited me to
confirm someone a member of the church. I was able to confirm Alejandro and was a little bit nervous because they didn't tell me until i was up there in front of everyone! I messed up a little at the start but it was also a great
experience for me! They all were confirmed today and so that was great!

Well so those are the activities that went on this week in the church, and they were all really spiritual and uplifting experiences for me. On sunday adrian, mayra and their daughters came to church again! They are sooo awesome and we love them so much! They are progressing really well and they are scheduled to get baptized this sunday if everything goes well with them getting married on friday. Actually i want to tell a little story about something that happened with them yesterday in the lesson that we had with them. We got to their house and mayra wasn't really sure if she wanted to get married, and she felt like it might be a little too rushed. We had one of the most spiritual lessons with them last night though!! I was able to bear testimony about my family and what my parents had done for me. I told them that the best knowledge someone can have in this life is the knowledge that they will live with their families for all eternity. It brought tears to my eyes just talking about the family that the Lordblessed me with and how i know that i will live with them forever. Of course they all teared up when we sang a hymn to them, and committed her and her husband to get married this friday! It was a really beautiful experience and i am so grateful for the family that i have. I have heard so many times people say
that isn't it good enough to just believe in god and Jesus Christ? Why does it
matter what religion we are? I know that all of the religions work hard to help people come unto christ, but i also know that the only church on this earth where we can receive salvation, and go onto live with our families forever, is the church that Christ himself established: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints. I have always been a competitive person, and i always hated how in primary they would give everyone a blue ribbon and tell us always that we were all winners. We all knew that was a bunch of junk! haha. I know that God, in our final judgement, won't just give to everyone a blue ribbon and call them all winners. He is a God of order and a god who has placed the fulness of his gospel on the earth to guide us back to return to live with him someday. We can either follow his gospel plan and join ourselves with his church to win the gold, or we can justify what we are doing by saying that everyone is a winner, and end up with something much less than what we hoped.  I know that God lives and loves us all. I know that his son Jesus Christ paid for our sins! I hope this letter motivates you all to work your hardest so that we can obtain the gold medal that awaits us!

Love you all,

Elder Holmes

The Mission Can't Be Replaced by Anything!

Well so this week was pretty sick, I am not going to lie. It was the first time that I have ever really been a part of opening a new church and being with a ward that had been in a casa de oracion for four years,  and now they have their own church building. It was a really awesome day,  and all of the members of the ward were really emotional and pumped up to be in the new beautiful church building. It is a one of a kind design for the churches here in mexico,  and all of the people who aren't members are really curious about it and they always give us comments. So to open up the new church,  doris and alejandro got baptized, as well as two other little 8 year old kids who are from families that we reactivated, and they were able to get baptized yesterday, as well. It felt pretty awesome to see this whole family reactivated and in the church. I will send a long a couple of photos at the end of my email so that you guys can see how everything went. 

It was also an awesome day because we brought two new families to the church. They both have a goal to be baptized in about 2 weeks and one of the families is extremely special. It is a lady named Mayra and her husband Adrian. They have two really cute little kids and they all absolutely loved the church. Actually after the church they also invited us over to the house to eat with them,  and they always are super nice. I hope that they can progress in these next couple of weeks because they are a really beautiful family. They just need to get married,  and so we will be looking into that this week. The other family that we found is an older couple with a daughter who is 20 years old. The dad of the family is really sick,  and so we were able to talk to him and the whole family about the plan of salvation and the perfect plan that the lord has for him in this life. The parents are a little more stuck in their ways,  but the daughter seems really excited,  and I think that she will be getting baptized here soon.  

Well to answer some of the questions that I have received:  President was just in the church this last week to see the opening services and to see the baptisms that we had. We have 22 missionaries in our zone,  and the zone is made up of 3 districts and in my district, every companionship has someone from my generation, so that is pretty crazy. There are 4 of us in the same district. I still havent seen my comp, elder watson, since we left the mtc. Actually I guess that is kind of a lie because I have seen him once or twice in the offices. 

My testimony has sure grown a lot in the time that I have been on my mission. I have witnessed many miracles,  and I know that the church is true. I can say that with 100% assurety. I don't have a doubt in my mind that this is the work of the Lord and that I was called to this mission for a really specific purpose. The people I have met have changed my life,  and I wouldn't rather be in any other place in my life than here. Of  course, I miss the family,  school,  friends,  sports,  etc. but the mission can't be replaced by anything. I have experienced true joy,  and I believe that is why we are here on this earth. The gospel of Jesus Christ is eternal happiness. I hope that everything is going just great for all of you and that you keep me in your prayers. I love you so much and miss you all!  

Love, Elder holmes  

A New Week in Tepozatlan!

Hi Everyone! Well happy birthday to my cousins Chris Marler and Will Cassity, both this wednesday the 8th, and also a birthday shout out to my little brother Lee (who I guess really isn't that little anymore!) I cant believe that you are already 17 years old bro. I hope you have a awesome birthday. Well I wanted to tell you guys that I did hear about that crazy guy who went to the Batman premier in Colorado. It was actually kind of crazy how I heard. I entered into a papeleria to teach some lady when all of a sudden I heard on the radio that she was listening to the words "Denver colorado". Obviously I tried to start paying more attention to the radio and the next words I heard were the guys name, but I only heard his last name "Holmes"! I was freaking out because I couldn't really hear the rest of what they were saying. Gotta say I was a little worried but then that night someone from the ward told me everything that had happened! I thought that was a pretty big coincidence with the name and the location, but relieved that it wasn't my family! Ok so this week was a little rough because we found a bunch of awesome people to teach, but none of them came to church on Sunday, besides the two who should be getting baptized on saturday, Dorris and alex. We are going to be the first ones to baptize in the new church, and actually this little 8 year old girl here in the ward will also be baptized and she asked me to baptize her. So that will also be fun. Everyone was really excited this week in the casa de oracion because it was the last week that they will have the little house to hold church in. We sure take for granted a lot of time the church buildings that we have always had! What a blessing they are. This week was also pretty fun because we had the zone leader conference. I was able to see all of the other zone leaders and some of the friends that I had in my other areas and I was able to see my 'papa' for the last time before he heads home from the mission. He is doing good and his home is actually in my zone so I will still see him even when he goes home! That will be kinda different! I actually met his sister the other day in one of the churches in our zone. In the zone that I am in right now I have two elders who were with me in the mtc, Elder Baker and Elder Son. It has been fun to see them again. They are great kids. Also, I have really been liking the new calling that they gave me. However, I feel like my spanish has kind of gone down hill for some reason. I don't feel like I have as much confidence as I used to have. Maybe it is because this is only my second mexican comp really, from the time that I got here with Elder Castillo, so it is back to spanish 24 7. I know that is a really good thing and I am sure learning a bunch from him. I feel like my spanish should be pretty dang good after the time with him. Well that is about it. I know that the church is true and that this is the work of the Lord. I love you so much and I love the opportunity I have to serve the Lord. Elder Holmes