Week 18 - Time to Say Goodbye

The trip (to Alberta) sounds like it was a success!  I was telling Dad I really wish I could have been there but the visit in a little over 1 year and a half will be awesome!  Clayton M. Christensen....I know right....I haven't read the book (The Power of Everyday Missionaries) but when he came to our mission and did "Case Study" with us.....I was blown away how he picked out and explained missionary principles.  It was intense to be there right beside him! 

This week has flown by... like fast!  Things have been good and sad.  Sad with the trials in our friends lives but good because we get to help them come closer to their Savior!  I love that people love, trust and have faith that we can help them.  We got to visit a family, shared a scripture and a message, and she wept because she knew it was from God.  We were asked to provide our priesthood by giving her a blessing...I love giving blesssings...I  always get nervous and hope I won't be asked to provide the blessing but I love being a tool for God and I love helping others receive comfort. I was able to perform the blessing for her and was touched myself when she cried and got to see her daughter hug her mom and to see the strength, comfort and guidance that was received.  Its so important that we live up to our potential because we never know when we are going to be called upon to assist the work here on this earth to build the Kingdom of God.  Just speaking with people...they know and can tell by our eyes that we have Spirit with us.  A man who never lets anyone into his house said that he only lets us in because he can see it in our eyes and how when we speak with him that we have "power".  I love how all of us have this "power" and I know that as we continue to do our best, apply the Atonement as we constantly repent, and rely on the Savior to help us get past and become stronger that the Spirit that we carry with us will grow. And others will see this.  They will feel this. They will recognize this.  And they will seek for this. 

Looks like I got my visa and I'm flying out. I thought that I would be happier. I've come to really enjoy my missionary friends, my member friends and the work here in Chula Vista.  I am extremely happy and excited to be heading out to Netherlands, I just didn't know it would be this hard.  The people that I have come to love, the people that I have started to help come closer to Christ... I've done my work for them and now I'm moving on.  It's weird to think about the friends that I have been teaching the Gospel and now knowing 100% that I won't be part of the teaching for them anymore... it's out of my hands. This move made me think about if it had been in my hands at all?  I know I've been a part of their conversion and learning but has it ever been in my control?  I'm gonna say no.  It's always been up to the the person and God.  All I can do is be that physical presence they most need to help get them started; then we/they must do the rest in coming to know Heavenly Father, our Savior and the Holy Ghost.  How grateful I am for the Plan of Happiness and I can never get over how perfect it really is.  The more I study it, apply it and teach it the stronger my testimony gets.  Everything is taken care of.  Just like how my friends here will be.  Hard sometimes but as we get over that hurdle and we use that chance to get to know God as we seek for his help, the best things happen;  the best things are learned and we are blessed with the best.  To know that this time on our earth is a time for us to prepare to meet God helps me to see what I can do better and helps me relax about it all. 

I guess the next time I speak with all of you I will be across the ocean.  I love you all and want to tell you how grateful I am for the Plan of Salvation and for prayer.  I love them both so much.  I really have gotten to know my Savior and Father through prayer, doing it multiple times daily. I know that He answers prayers and He wants to communicate with us.  Man...I wish I could describe to all how I really feel about prayer but words can't describe the feelings and joy I receive when I pray and when I pray giving it all I got.  How fortunate we are to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Love,

Elder Holt

Last district meeting in Chula Vista - Elder Holt seems to have been influencing them all!

An awesome family in San Diego - they made an AMAZING last dinner for me!

Me and Elder Henrichson at the airport

Week 17 - Teaching With the Spirit

The lingering long winters....oh how I miss them!  People here always refer to the cold winters when I say I'm Canadian...haha they even get wide eyes like it's a crazy far away foreign land. I love it.  I guess they get so used to Utah missionaries that I am like the unicorn of missionaries! I'm sad that I'm going to miss my little sister's wedding but I am sooooooo happy that I'm not there for the planning.  Hey.....we are a healthy family : ) We vocalize and in time will learn to not be like the cookie monster and make everything all about us.  Man.....It's weird because I remember Grandpa's birthday party last year and It's so weird to not be at the Van Bruggens for all of the fun family celebrations. It's sad but a good sad.  I really miss that guy; our discussions about.....pretty much everything!  haha. He is such an interesting, funny and self learned man, not to mention his funny jokes..whether he tried to be funny or not haha I like it how he refers to grandma and how after the many years he has been married to Grandma, he still loves her and shows this through his actions like when he walks her to the car or how he calls her Joanie Baby ahah.  Man....happy belated birthday Grandpa and let him know that I love him and miss him.  I'm grateful for his hospitality, patience with me and the good example he sets which I've been able to apply on my mission.  I got to share the book of all you guys with a family in the ward here and they loved it!  It was funny becuase our message to them was about family and how we take them for granted a lot and sometimes it takes us being away from them to understand how important they really are to us.  Their daughter is serving in Russia and wrote them that day pretty much the same thing but that she really missed them. She told them that she wanted to hear from them all and get an update on their favourite things and how much she loved them.  Trippy becuase thats kind of what I was thinking last week. 

The past week was a good one!  Yeah I met the Bratts!  It was trippy!....they looked like they weren't 100 % sure where they were going so I said, "hey you guys new?" They replied explaining they were new or visiting...i don't remember.  The conversation moved to where we were from...my comp said Utah so they all could relate where they all lived.  I said I was from Edmonton, AB and she was like, "hey, we have friends that live up there!" I asked the names....who knew...maybe it would be someone I knew...it's happened before....I did not expect them to say the Van Bruggens! haha it was sweet.  I said Gerald and Jo-Anne?  they said yeah and boom....told em that was my family, my Aunt and Uncle!  It was crazy cool!  Small world indeed! 

I hope Christina get's the part!  That'd be cool for her to live in AB again!  It's such an awesome place and on the plus side, she can eat prairie oysters!!  Christina....you should create your own email and write me!  That would be so much better than having a paragraph on Moms! When you get your paint brushes you can paint me a picture of something spritually awesome and mail it to me!  Yess!  Yesss....write me on your own email so can discuss these things further.....period. Love you too and I will talk to you later on YOUR OWN EMAIL!

haha Megan....what the heck haha I feel like you just reported to your supervisor.  Read what you wrote in a monotone voice....that's how I read it : )  haha I miss you a ton and I want to know what book you read and why you weren't allowed to go to sleep!  You gotta get your own email too so I can write you!  Get on it ASAP punk-a-roo!  That reminds me...they don't have dunkaroo's here!  what is wrong with the US of A!

So something that has been kind of hard is acting on the spiritual promptings I recieve and not second guessing them.  It's so easy to shrug off something that pops into your mind but then you always wonder what the outcome would have been and you don't know if it was a spiritual prompting or not!  Kind of hard to learn how to recognize the Spirit if you don't act on these promptings eh?  Well, we had a lesson yesterday and t'jonge jonge......it was a sweet experience.  The other thing that I've been working really hard to do is to listen to the people and then listen to the Spirit as to what should be done and said.  It's so natural for me to think about what I'm going to say while they are speaking, then I always blurt out a thought I thought of way before they ended!  So stupid, I know!  Well, while we discussed the restoration I really focused on not thinking of what to say and allowed myself to listen to what they were saying and allowed the Spirit to do the thinking for me.  It's really cool when you say something or ask something that really hits somebody.  I was surprised with the questions and thoughts that came into mind but felt extremely blessed.  I got to really be a mouth piece for the Lord.  I think I'm starting to understand what that really means and I'm excited that I am going to be able to continue to learn this principle.  We don't teach people, the Spirit teaches people.  That comes in so many ways and I got to be a part of speaking physically for the Spirit.  At the end and throughout the discussion with our friend she told us that, "you must have really prayed becuase you guys answered what I really needed to help me move forward."  How cool is that!  She enjoyed the questions I asked her.  She said they really made her think and it was cool to see how these questions would lead to a principle and also mold into the lesson.  It's crazy how the Spirit works and I was amazed at the points and outlooks I recieved from Him.  I truly learned things I wouldnt as a I focused all of my energy towards helping her.  The Spirit is an amazing companion and I am so grateful that we have been blessed with His companionship.  We really do have a loving Heavenly Father.  He loves us so much that he gave us a good friend that helps is in so many ways.  I know that if I didn't live the way that is asked of me that this companionship would be useless so I urge everyone to do their very best in living as worthily as they can to keep this companionship.  I love you all and I miss you!  haha I love grandmas mug!  Can you send the pic again but attatch in a way that I can download it?  haha I miss Aunt Jo-anne and Jo too!  I remember the awesome visits we would get from the Bevans crew!  I really really miss Nitza's pizza!  Dang....that donair pizza!  Sooooooo goooooooooood.  I hope all is well and I hope you have success with all that you all are doing.  Watch March Madness for me and keep me updated!  Get the kids to write me with their own email!!!! 

Love,

Elder Holt

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Pancakes the stray feline - so Jesse!

Week 16 - Nourish and Exercise Your Testimony

laundry time!

 Every time we go to members' houses that have a bunch of little kids it reminds me of growing up and how fortunate we were and still are to have such an awesome and amazing family.  I see the relationships that siblings have and can not comprehend what it would be like being an only child!  I really do miss you all a ton but I want you to know that I would not have understood the importance of family and how much I took my family for granted if I didn't come out here!  Next week you need to get every one of my siblings to write a line or 2!!  I want to hear from them and speak with them! 

This past week has been a busy one!  We got to see a TON of people!  We met with a couple former investigators and a lot of less active members!  It's super sad to hear some of these less active members' stories and how badly they have lost their faith.  One man straight up said he wanted his records pulled; he loved speaking with us though- haha- kind of confusing but let's pray that we will be able to invite him to come closer to Christ.  After we met him I was scared and worried.  He had some callings that demanded a lot of responsibility but because of the things life threw at him he has been unable to endure.....that 5 and crucial doctrine of Christ.  I realized that anyone of us can fall away from the path so easily....It makes sense why we've been asked to attend church weekly, partake of the sacrament, pray often and continuously, feast on the words of prophecy and have been given callings to constantly keep us working towards building His kingdom here on earth.  When we hit those low points.....that's when we need to pray and feast on the words more than ever......I feel like it's those points that make or break us.  We can either decide to throw the towel in and wave the white flag to Satan or we can keep our head up, call on the help that Heavenly Father wants to give us and press forward in steadfastness.  It's amazing how well God's Church is built.  If we look at the support one can receive from the church it's a huge testimony builder that this is truly God's work; He knows what we need and he has given it to us but we must seek for this help.  Like Christ and His Atoning sacrifice, it is for all that have the desire and are willing to follow His example.  Always nourish and exercise your testimony.  How's your faith supposed to grow without those two steps?  For all my of my younger siblings and cousins....exercise your testimony.  Share it as often as occasion allows.  Nourish it through constant scripture study and prayer. Listen to talks from past General Authorities.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is so deep and so vast.  Explore it daily!  It's way cool when you obtain new knowledge.  We've been commanded to pray to our Father so pray to Him.  Tell him how you're doing.  Ask Him for help.  Speak to Him at least every morning and night.  If you need it or want to, don't stop there and pray to him throughout the day.  Speak not only to Him but speak with your family or friends.  The world is a hard place but many have been where you are or know how to help you.  The guidance you are seeking for may come from Heavenly Father through those around you.  Always keep busy and not sit around on your butt!  You're only going to be your age once in your life here on earth....explore and find out what the world is about.  I love you all and can't wait to speak with you next!

Love,

Elder Holt   

Week 15 - learning from our mistakes

  You guys always talk about Quinton and the more I hear I really want to meet him! That's such a hard thing  here in the field; not being able to hold the babies or pick up the kids, throw 'em around and wrestle.  So many of these rules in the mission you wonder like, what the heck that's so dumb, but at the same time I'm always reminded that people say that about the Law of Chastisty, the Word of Wisdom and not getting tattoo's but hey.....its been asked of us and we love our Heavenly Father, our Savior and the Gospel so we do them.  Even if we don't understand fully why but as we do so we see the blessings from being obedient. 

 

 This past fast and testimony meeting we had so many youth and kids go up and bare their testimony! I was surprised and impressed at the same time.  Their testimonies and the words and experiences they shared we're sooo strong.  All I could think about was Mosiah 3:19 and how they portrayed those traits in their experiences.  Those traits are seen as weak to many but I've come to know that once we see those traits as what they truly are, as strengths, we will truly flourish, start understanding the character of Christ, be able to strengthen and help others the way Christ would and just explode with strength to keep us on the straight and narrow path that is continually being bombarded by the opposition.  I love the Gospel so much and am sad to think back at the time I lost in my teens.  I see these youth and the kids and am strengthened so much by seeing their faith, diligence and desire to share the Gospel.  It reminds me of home and I really hope that we won't look back at our past with the, "I wish I did that..."attitude.  Time doesn't wait for anyone and the Lord has blessed us with time to progress so please......listen to what the Spirit prompts you to do and do it.

 

That's awesome that you guys get to go over to Alberta!  I'm so jealous!  Have a safe trip please!  That highway is something else with all that snow!  I remember Jenni and me treckin through a ton of snow and barely being able to see 10 feet in front of us and not being able to see the lines!  When you go can you please set up grandma's email so I can write her!?  I have a bunch of letters here for various people but I'm trying to write a few more so I can send them all in one envelope and get you guys to send them to everyone! I'm cheap, I know! But it costs money to send things away! Hopefully I'll get them sent this week but probably not.....haha I'll work on it. Tell Grandma happy brithday and tell her I love and miss her!  She's so young!  Dang...her and Grandpa taught me a lot that has helped me on my mission!  Even though I sucked at it there, cleaning and keeping things clean and in order has been happening becuase I had two good coaches!<3 Emailing is so much easier for me to do!  I would like to be able to write every letters but writing by hand takes so much time that I really don't have! 

 

Haha we'll see about the Dutch.....it's a really hard language but is truly the language of love, just listen to all those "G" sounds....heavenly.  Love it.  I've memorized 6 scriptures in Dutch...working on my 7th...planning to have 15 done by the end of the tranfer and have the 1st vision memorized in Dutch also!  The language is coming...maybe not as fast as my comps in Belgie and Nederland but it's coming.  I've been able to focus on the grammitical principles and am slowly learning vocab as I memorize scriputres and read my Dutch literature. 

 

This week was good.  We've been able to work with members and have learned a lot about how to get them to help us.  We have created a plan and are executing it nicely!  Yesterday was really the first day we had to put in a good amount of hours of straight work and were able to add 2 people to our teaching pool.  It's exciting to see the success of our plan.  Not only that but learning from our failures and continueing to build on it from these mistakes.  I was watching a mormon.org "I'm a mormon" video and a guy said something that I had to add this to my record of Qutoes.  He said, " There is no learning without failure".  I believe that 110 %.  I think that plays a huge role in the why we are here.  We learn a lot from our mistakes.  I've learned what not to do, or how I could have done better.  Mistakes or failures are vital in our progression.  As sad as screwing up is....we really learn from them.  And how awesome is it that we have a Savior that made it possible for us to screw up and yet be successful in returning to Him after our time here in this life.  I urge you to share this with everyone you know.  Be like the 4 sons of Mosiah.  Mosiah 28:3.  "Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human sould should perish; yea, even the very thought that any sould should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble."  Think how much the Gospel has changed your life and recall the one who introduced to you or taught you the gospel.  Imagine them not doing so. Sucks right?  It's a good thing this gospel.  Not everyone is going to accept our invitation but at least we gave them a shot at it right?  And we can use that experience to learn. 

 

Man...I really just love the fact that we're able to share this knowledge with everyone.  I really wish I did this more before I came out.  I wish I just threw out the invitation more often.  I've come to know that if I don't send the invitation becuase I don't think they will accept, I'm kind of taking their agency away becuase I've made the decision for them.  We have this gift and blessing that has changed our lives and blessed not only ourselves but our family and friends also. Share it with invitations and testimonies.

 

Love you all,

Elder Holt

 

PS.  We got a member who hasn't borne his temstimony in years....like years... to do so on Sunday and how great it was.  I can tell you that the more you share you testimony the stronger that testimony will become.  If you are struggling, share what you know and you will recieve strength.