NEW YEARS

Well this week has been pretty good! OF COURSE it was Great! it was Christmas, Even though it did not feel like it. its just not like mesa, no lights no big decorations and it was not cold, until after Christmas. The day of Christmas it was cold, and windy then the next 3 days it was just chilly and our apt was very cold, and we both didn't sleep good one of the nights, and then I finally took the time to get the heater working. it  is ancient but I got the pilot lit and it works now, its just that you have to manually turn it on and off. but its now very warm in the apt. this morning we did a deep clean, it was pretty dirty. but it was good. and now I feel a lot better. I'm Tired of being stuffed. Everywhere we went this week everyone wanted to give us food. and then we went out to eat with some members and el Hermano, just likes to stuff us and ordered more things for me right before the lady left. and then what else. The Familia ***, we skyp'd there and ate both days. They like to give us lots of food.

What else happened this week. So we Found a new family. Well we found part last week and we found the other part this week. *** is an 11 year old and we talked to his mom and she said that he could go to church, she is pregnant and just is not super interested but we have permission to teach and help him. But after we dropped Leo off on Sunday we stepped inside and had a lesson with them. it was good. it was hard to teach sometimes because there were 6 people ranging from just got out of jail, and then to teenagers who know nothing and then the parents who are super interested and leo who is pretty innocent and young.  So we taught them the plan and it was a longer lesson and it was hard, but we got through and it was good to see how it doesn't matter who you are or what you do and what you have been through, the Plan God has for us is perfect and we get to choose our path! its that simple.

Nothing much new other than that. the area is going good, were finding a lot and contacting a lot, but things should settle down for this week, and then be busy for transfers next week and then back to normal. But other than that its all good. New years we will be put into our apartment early to do planning... joy.... and then I think that's it for this week!

 

I love you all and hope you have a great week! Its was awesome to Talk/Skype with you all this week :) I love this time of year. I Hope you all Had a great Christmas and Hope you have a great New Year!

 

Love

Elder Hollingshead

FELIZ NAVIDAD! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

 

Zerin with Pres. & Sis Weidman

Well this week has been alright. I'm still tired, but overall it was good. we had a cool Christmas devotional. and it was nice and chilly! Mostly the biggest change was dropping off elder Arambula at the mission office on Wednesday night! That was a weird feeling and we came back and it was just quite. Elder Ceron is pretty quiet and just calm. Elder Arambula was just loud and always playing around. hes a football player and he just always liked to turn the lights off at night and tackle us on to our beds. and one time at the end i was in the middle of them both and got pushed on to the floor and folded like a taco....legs right over head.... era bien chistoso. but anyways he's gone. probably with his girlfriend and freezing in Utah.... Lets see what else happened this week! Priscilla and Karina got confirmed, and it was good, Bishop did the confirmation and he said in one of them that if the time was right that they could serve a mission. It was really cool because after church Priscilla said that she would like to go on a mission! I love it when converts Say that! its just a testimony builder to me because this family has changed so much in the last 2 weeks. it went from arguing and fighting everyday to get the baptized to now being happy and wanting to go on a mission. The Gospel does change lives. its changed mine and many others in my areas and in the world. I love Jesus Christ! Its Christmas what better time to have that love! It honestly doesn't feel like Christmas.... even last year I still felt like Christmas, but I wasn't home. this year it just doesn't feel like it at all. yes there are lights and music, but it just doesn't feel like Christmas but what I do know is that Its a great blessing and honor to be here on the mission during this time.  

what else Happened this week?.... umm yeah so I didn't get enough practice time for the song I was going to play so a sister ended up playing it.. I was sad, but relieved. I really miss music, even singing I feel like I don't know how to sing anymore.... but that just part of the sacrifice.  but the devotional was great, got a picture with President! and it was a good lunch. I got to see a lot of elders I haven't seen in a while. But everything is going well. I'm excited to See you all on Thursday. Probably for the timing of the call will be between 12-2 that's what I'm guessing. Like always I will call you and then we will get Skype set up. Remember I only have 40 min. so maybe you could all have some ?s and what not, or we can just talk! I'm excited. 

 

 

Merry Christmas!

Elder Hollingshead

 

 

 

 

 

 Hey All you Family and Friends. I just want to wish you all A Merry Christmas From Los Angeles California! I hope you all know How Awesome You are!  Thanks for All the Support and Prayers that Are made in My Behalf and for all the missionaries in the World!  I Hope you all had the Opportunity to Share the Gospel with Someone this year, and especially the Shore Video Called "He is the Gift". I was going to make a card and send it to a bunch of people, but... i ran out of time.... SO You all just get an Email... Hopefully you all read it before Thursday:)   Well I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and remember all the Good times we had in the Past!  Say Hello to all your Family!

 

Feliz Navidad!

 Elder Hollingshead

 

P.S. Enjoy the Pictures! (don't make fun of my horrible art skills;)

I'm tired of being Tired.....

*** Girls Baptism

Well,

 


So this week has been so tiring. I don't think I've been this tired in a long time. we have just been on the run for long time. everything we do seems to be in a rush. I haven't had any time to write in my journal. I come home plan and its already 10:15 so I go straight to bed. and then on top of that there was a lot of stress just so that people could get baptized sunday.so where to begin. ..... so Tuesday the day after we switched comps. I got kicked out already and went on a trio exchange with other elders in the zone. I was the first time I have actually served in an English area my whole mission. it was weird. South central English people are weird. That or I have just got extremely used to Latin culture. its just crazy....yeah so then Wednesday. elder ceron had to get an ingrown toenail removed so that took like 2 hours then we came back and had to get a little better plan. then we contacted a few people then we had to go back out to Santa Monica and have a special MLC (missionary leadership council) with president and elder Baxter (quorum of the 70). that was good, we mostly talked about leadership and how it affects others and how we can become better leaders. it was good. quick but very powerful. then after we met with one of our investigators at the VC, he needed to get an interview with one of the mission presidency. so that happened and it took way to long but Darwin was all good to go and get baptized on Sunday. so that was all of Wednesday and we got back super late. Thursday we had a good day, but we had to take some time and go to the church building to set up some tables and chairs for the mission conference at our building on Friday. so we set it up and then had some good visits with people. I honestly cant remember the names.... its just been super stressful. but we did meet with the *** family. The 2 daughters had the baptismal date for this last Sunday. the mom is a less active and lets just say it was a pain in the neck and very frustrating to get them all excited for the baptism. the visit was very long and we finally got them ready for their baptism on Sunday. we set up the interview for then next day during the Christmas party. They came got the interview and everything was good they both passed. So on Friday we had 3 baptism ready to go! it was awesome.
Friday was also our zone conference. we had to get up early again to finish setting everything up with the assistants. long story short all the tables and chairs had to be taken down the night before because the building was being used without us knowing. but the conference went well. it was very long for us. we were at the church building almost all day. except for like an hour. Elder Baxter was really nice and very powerful. Honestly it wasn't much of a change meeting, but what was said was profound and very deep and it just strengthened my testimony and it just gave me a spiritual boost. I liked it. but yeah.so Saturday, when we met with **, he told us that he couldn't get baptized. he told his mom and she said that is was too soon and he couldn't do that. we tried to get him over it, but he wouldn't change, and wouldn't ask his mom. so yeah, that was a bummer. but after the lesson we both though well even if he doesn't get baptized, we still have the ** girls that will get baptized. then we show up a little later and then they just went on and on and on.... they were all arguing and sad and mad at each other. basically every little thing that the hna was mad about made her think that the kids were not ready. so....that was a little lame... but we got them ready and they agreed to be baptized. so yeah they got baptized on Sunday. now that did involve coming over at 8 in the morning and getting them ready and not mad and telling them that they were ready over and over again. and they did get baptized. on top of that, the hot water was out on Sunday because of something that happened in the ward party, so it was cold water, so baptizing them was very cold and one of the girls had to get dunked 2 times.

 but yeah there are lots of other things that happened this week, but that's the important things. oh and we did get to go to the Visitor center yesterday and we watched a musical program and then walked around the gardens and I may be biased but mesa lights are so much better. but something super cool, I saw **! from last December that me and elder Marin baptized. He is still super strong and super solid. so I got his address and will hopefully write him soon. also I saw a bunch of other people from Inglewood 2nd ward. it was super fun! Its fun to see all these people from back then. so yeah I think that's it.

I love you all! Hope you are having a very Merry Christmas!

 

Elder Hollingshead



Our Trio

 

 

 

LA Temple Visitors Center Lights

Zone Leader ?????

Well

This weekend has been fast and a rapid change. First things first, I'm a zone leader now..... as inexperienced and unqualified I am, I guess that's what the lord wants. I Switched to LA stake in LA6th ward. Its still Spanish! and I'm with another comp that's about to go home. he goes home in 10 days. and so ill be with Elder Ceron my other comp. I didn't move very far. just across the 110, and so its still very close to everything I know. but everything is going good. I got the call yesterday at 3 in the afternoon. President called and when he calls unexpected you know its business. so we did the switch today at 1 and then I will also be playing a song in the Christmas devotional, and so I went by and picked up the music. I guess the assistants just found out that I play piano, and so they have called me almost all of the last mission meetings to play hymns and so they also asked if I could play a song too. so yeah. then I've just been

 

But yeah an quick update on my old area. All the **** family will be going to the temple this Saturday with the ward. and then also ** will be going too. And then all the most sad part is that we got 0 investigators to church, lets just say it was a rough week. Tuesday it poured all day we were soaked, freezing cold and on top of that this week alone I have gotten 5 flat tires. It was very frustrating, but now I'm in car. and then Tuesday we went on exchanges and I went with a new elder, Elder Delgado (skinny). he's cool, but talks a lot and I couldn't keep the conversation on the gospel so most of our visits didn't get much done. it tried my patience, but we both learned from It. Wednesday it rained all day too, but it wasn't as cold so that was nice, but we were extremely tired of the rain. being on bike was miserable. but I guess that's what we signed up for. rain or shine to preach the gospel. as for our investigators, ** was doing good all week, but she didn't come to church. and also we watched the testaments with the ** family. it was super good. We kind of felt bad, we were about to go in and drop them because they are not progressing. but we were very surprised because they really wanted to come to church, but ** had to work until 6 in the morning and slept in too long. so the movie was good, and then we had to go, so hopefully it left a good spirit there and they want to learn more. As for elder earl, he is very sad. he is now in a trio with elder Dallimore and Delgado. They will be double covering the same area that I did 4 months ago. and it will be a blast.

As for everything else its going good. now its going to be a busy week for me. we have Missionary Leadership council on Wednesday, so that will be lots of training.  we have a general authority touring our mission this week, so we have MLC and then a all day zone conference with our zone and a couple others, with Elder Baxter. So yeah, December is just a busy month! I realized yesterday just how much I'm going to miss these people. we got to stop by for a little bit and visit with the *** family to say goodbye, and I was super sad, and they were too, but I have their address and number so I'll definatly call them and write them letters! I'm so glad I got the opportunity to teach them and help them enter the gospel. They are very strong, since their baptism they have been serving and sharing with many people. I've seen a big change in them.

Well I love you all! I hope you are all have a great Christmas season! I sure miss being at home, but it will be just as fun out here, btw mom can you forward me the Skype info again in the next couple of week so we can set that. up. Anyways I will always be praying over you! And jareds photo looks great! Sounds like its going to get busy here soon! so yeah

 

Love you all!

Elder Hollingshead

December ???

So yeah, this week has been slow.... not the best we had. it was actually a little frustrating. where to begin.

well *** is doing awesome! she is super cool and she got confirmed. Also we watched the hour long restoration video, and she said she only had 30 min, and half way through I told her it was 30min, and she looked at her watch and then just said "why not finish it" so we finished it. she is still super solid. and also the *** family is doing awesome! we had dinner with them on Saturday and they brought some of their friends. and so we shared a quick video and they set a return appointment. now here's the surprise, we did not tell them about church and we show up at church and as I'm playing the opening hymn, they walk in and also their Friends..... so they came to church and stayed for the whole thing. it was great! we hope they start growing potential and also its good that the *** family is doing missionary work! so that was the good things about this week. and the new video is super awesome!  I hope you have seen it. it is basically our street contacting now. we have cards and use it all the time to show to people. sometimes if they have a smartphone we ask them to watch it right there on the street. and it is super powerful.

 

now the rest of the week was slow and very rough. Monday we couldn't leave our apartment. we were stuck inside all day. also the next day we were going to have to stay in after 5, but literally 15 min before 5 they told us we could stay out. which was great right after we canceled all of our appointments and no one was home.... it was a little frustrating. Also so we had no hot water for 2 days, and our heater was still not working. and Monday night elder earls bike got stolen.... we were both very frustrated. so Tuesday we were walking until about 5 but they another missionary in the zone left his bike so they came and brought it up to us and we used that the rest of the day and elder earl is going to keep it, it is a horrible bike but it works and elder earl has no money to buy another. so yeah then we have had day after day of set appointments and slowly they all fall through. so its just been really slow. then also yesterday it rained basically all afternoon. so we were soaked but elder earl did not care so I was really cold and wet, and again all of our appointments canceled. so we were outside for a few hours in the rain. but we did get our heater working and hot water. so its a nice warm apartment. the heater didn't work for one stupid reason. Birds.... they built a nest in the vent and so it would cut ally the oxygen and the flame would just putter out after 10 sec. but its all cleaned out and we have a nice warm living area.

Nothing else to update, things are just hastening. this work is so awesome Its been a blast to work in this area. so many cool things happen all the time. Christmas is coming and it definably is hard but its great! i love this work and love being out serving others. So its not so bad.. I hope all goes well for you this first week of December! I love you all and hope it all goes well this week!. Hope everyone had a great yummy thanksgiving:) i sure did and was stuffed for about 2 days, but it was super good:)

 

I love you all!

Elder Hollingshead

well catch you later.

well I was going to write a longer letter today, but..... aparently there was some sort of national case that just got closed and its causing some civil unrest and we just mandated to go home before 1. so we don't have much time.

*** got baptized! she is absolutely awesome. It was a great service and she bore her testimony at the end and it was super powerful. then the hno *** and the kids got the priesthood on sunday! they are doing awesome. it was just great to see the progress a lot this week. what else that's important. its Thanksgiving on Thursday! soundslike we will have 2 meals with members, lunch and dinner. and then Sandra is awesome! she took us out to eat 2 times this last week. so we had panda, and in and out... it was so good. and then. she told us that on Wednesday she is going to give a big dinner of what ever we want.... so we shall see what me and elder earl decide. then....this week. we had an activity for the ward. it was alright. lets just say, singing is not a strength in latino wards.... I played the piano and it turn out better than I thought but.. they really struggled with it all. So yeah. not much other updates. thanks for all your love and support.

 

Love

Elder Hollingshead

Sooooooo.... turns out. we can still come out and finish our p day stuff, but we have to be in by 4. so yeah, we should be good now.

 

Well this week was pretty good! lots of good things happening. the church is going to put out a new video about Christmas and so we will have a special zone conference this Friday to talk about it and all the cool things its going to do. The rumor is that the church  bought you-tube for a day, and also time square in New York and it will be a big advertisement for this new video. So it should bring a lot of new things! Its been pretty busy around here in this area. We had a ward missionary activity and it was a little play and I was the piano player, so we had 2 practices that took way too much time out of our area, me and elder earl were pretty frustrated, but asi es. we had an awesome week with *** because she got baptized! She is so awesome, we had the interview Wednesday and she was super ready, and then also she gave us good food! she's is by far the most ready person I've seen for the gospel. From the day we contacted her and her baptism, it was 5 weeks. And she kept the same baptismal date the whole time! if only missionary work is always like that. Her baptism went perfectly and smoothly. she was super happy all week. 2 of her daughters came and watched, the baptism. and then she bore her testimony at the end and it was super powerful! Then yeah, the *** family is doing well, and they dad and sons all got the priesthood on Sunday and they are staying strong and faithful. Hna. was going through some hard times at the beginning of the week and so we stopped by and watched mountains to climb and she was just crying and crying and we talked about continuing to the end and working and never regretting our faith. It was super awesome and she is going strong again.

 

A lot of our other investigators we had a hard time planning and meeting with them. they are doing good, it was just we did not have a good schedule to work with so things were just not following through. But it was overall a good week. Lots of good things are happening :) we are busy and tired so that means were getting work done right? We got a new elder in the district and he's a convert of about 1 year and a half! he's cool, but he seems to have a hard time adjusting to the new rules, but he'll work it out, he's got lots of energy and excitement for missionary work. 

 

ITs weird to think thanksgiving is already here! its been super quick this month. and now, its going to be Christmas in no time! now its getting super cold. and our heater is still not on. we cut the gas, so nothing can go wrong with CO poisoning but its still cold.  and then this morning we got up and we have no hot water..... needless to say I was freezing cold this morning. so we are calling it in, but no one answers the phone, this apartment is nice but hard to work with people.... So I hope as we come to Thanksgiving this week we can remember all the Our Heavenly Father has given to us! everyday I

'm amazed at the blessings we receive and its just a testimony builder to me of how much he loves us so he blesses us every time we Obey with exactness. (D&C 130:20-21) So just remember to always give thanks for the things we have and for what he has blessed us with. I love you All!!!!!!! Have a great Week, and Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Love

Elder Hollingshead

 

*** at her Baptism

 

Week of Miracles!

Well,

WOW this week has been Amazing! lots of cool things happened with our investigators. they are all super cool! Where to begin.... well first things first the *** family is doing great. they go confirmed and are progressing very well. sometime this week we will have dinner with them and they will be bringing some friends to share the gospel with. They are reading and we watched the Joseph Smith: prophet of the restoration video. and they loved it and want to go do baptisms at the temple too. Then we met with *** 2 times, and taught most of the commandments. and everything is going good with them. She loves everything we teach and will change just about anything to make sure she's living it right. she read like 20+ chapters in the book of Mormon and every time we teach she just testifies to us that it is the truth. I love her so much. She will be baptized in a few weeks for sure. as soon as she moves out. Then also. We took ** and ** to the visitor center.  it was amazing!  ** is super awesome and loves to learn and she realized she has not put her part in, she committed to read everyday and also they came to church! It is super cool. They have progressed so much in the last little bit. ** on the other hand is not so open, but I see it coming, he is very quite and he finally said he would read and pray and then he came to church and I know between those 2 times he has felt the spirit somewhere! they are not married so that will be a problem but we will work with that in a little bit. We met with the *** family. They are super good. she read, and liked it, just had a few questions on timing and who these people are. so we reinforced reading and praying and they also committed to come to church next Sunday so that will be great for them. it was a super good lesson and it got topped off with some good "pan con pollo" dinner after. it was amazing.  Then, yeah we did find 5 new investigators, that is something we have been struggling with. So we found a super cool family, they are super cool and he really liked the restoration lesson. We have hopes for them. and then, we found this older couple who are very catholic, but very open to listen, they like to learn, and are more than willing to try it. out, so our plan of action is get them to church, and slam them with the spirit and get them baptized.... lot easier in words than in action, but something to that effect.

 

We got to go to the temple this week, it was pretty good. finally got to see the new version, it was fun and then it was a lovely 2 hour bus ride home. it was a night mere, I hate taking the bus. we got stuck in traffic on the way there, and we had to run as fast as we could to make it to the 9:15 session. thank goodness for a nice bus driver who made an extra stop right in front of the temple. If not we would have been like 10 min later because the stop was pretty far.  and me and elder earl both realized that we need to go running more. we both got winded when we ran up that hill. I think its the super humid air here in LA, its just thick and hard to breath in. anyways.  we got to talk to some people from Spain on the way back home. they were on vacation, and it was fun to listen to their accent. it was not that big. only they speak so much slower and clearly and have a lisp. then we did exchanges right after that. it was a very busy and quick day. Elder barker is awesome! he so fun to talk to. He actually wants me to go to byu and room with him after! so its an option, that's if I get into BYU.  owell. that still 9 months away to worry about.

 

so yesterday at a members house elder earl looked up a video to share. and its called  Missionary work and the atonement. Its clips of 2 talks by President Eyring and Elder Holland. Super good. It talks about how missionary's complain how hard it is sometimes to be a missionary work, and the whole talk talks about how It will never be easy nor was it made to be easy. He does a great example of how, it was never easy for Jesus Christ when he was on the earth, So how can we expect that it will be easy for us in these days. It was super powerful. I love listening to talks, its so much powerful when you hear it from them not just reading. Anyways I hope all is well for you all this week. with wedding planning, and you have a fun veterans day. and Just a great Week!

 

I love you all!

Elder Hollingshead

 

Baptisms !



The *** Family Baptism

Well, this week has been pretty good. The *** family did get baptized finally! it was awesome yesterday. Super good to have that happen. I will say for some reason some of my stress went away after the baptism.  it was good to see how happy the family was. Ivan (dad) is usually pretty straight faced with not much emotion. But he was happy and smiling after the baptism. He's so cool! I love this family so much. But now its the temple for them!  So it was a good day yesterday. I will say it has been super cold. It finally dropped in temperature. it rained Friday night and Saturday morning, then it just stayed cold and windy the next 3 days. our apartment is not insulated, and our heater does not work.... the pilot lite turns on, but then after like 5 min, it goes out and doesn't cut the gas so then the apartment smells like gas, not good. so we just try to sleep as warm as possible with blankets and jackets. I think it was like 60 in our apartment this morning. anyways. it finally rained. that is a first in probably about 6 months. if you ever thought Arizona was bad, come to Sothern California. Its worse. But now its cooler so I'm happy :) Oh and Wednesday  we went to the Visitor center with **! she is super awesome, it was super powerful. one of the rooms here is the testimonies of the apostles today. we watched the one with Elder Christofferson. It was super powerful and It talks about how he received his own testimony. and then relates it with the restoration. it was super cool. and she loved the temple, she said she works close by to the temple and she might stop by and walk around when she can. I love **, she is so willing and ready to do it. Except she didn't come to church. she said she would but she never showed up. But we talked about the law of chastity and baptism on Saturday. she has to move out because there are single men living there, but she is willing and asked us what else she has to do to get baptized. anyways. she's golden and willing to change anything. she testified to us like 6 times at the visitor center how true this is, and how god had prepared her to receive this message. Other than that nothing much has changed, oh wait. so familia *** is not good. Sounds like they are going to split up and he's going to move to riverside... sad day, but he said he will get baptized asap and that he wants his wife and girls to get baptized asap too. I  just think that they don't want to get married, well at least she doesn't. they have big problems and we have no idea what to do to help them. but other than that nothing new.

 

So this week was Zone Conferences. It was one of my favorite zone conferences. President ands Sister Weidman went to a conference for mission presidents. he says they are just awesome. And  he always pulls quotes and things to do differently.  Last years was about deep faith and high expectations, this year was how the sprit adds power to our calling. he started out with some things from Elder Bednar. "if we always do what we have always done, then we will always get what we have always gotten" or a really cool way to say, in order to progress in everything and grow we have to do things differently, and change and be better, so we can get bigger and better blessings and miracles. so we talked a lot about how we can have the sprit more in our lives. and earlier this week I went on exchanges with Elder Maughan. he was in the MTC with me, he's super cool. and he showed me something that I think I'm going to try. its called the 40 day fast. Obviously we cannot fast for 40 days, we would die, but we do a normal fast and then make a list of things that impede our ability to feel the spirit and its guidance,  then and commit to the lord you will abstain from all these things for 40 days. and then plead and pray for help everyday to do it. and then you change and you can feel the sprit even more. So I think I'm going to give it a try sometime soon. So I learned a lot. between the exchanges and zone conference. then we had a lovely 4 hour planning for Halloween night when we stayed. it was about to die! we had been at zone conference for 6 hours then outside for 2 and then back inside for 4..... not enough time outside for me.

 

Well I love you all! Even though times seem hard some days. You all seem happy! in all the pictures. Jarom looks so excited and that whole family does. I'm glad it was a good week, I love you all so much. this is a scripture that I read this morning. and I really like it. it's something we all know but its alma 46:12 "And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—In‍ memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole." this is why we do what we do as missionaries. We are fighting everyday against the world or "satan" to help people find that hope and peace and love in families that does not exist in the world now. and when I saw the familia *** get baptized I just realized how much that is true, that for them, and for all of us, we will be fighting the rest of our lives to defend the truth.

 

I love you all so much :)

Have a great week.

 

Elder Hollingshead

 

This is the *** family! super cool!

and that is a sunset I have not seen in over a year. I swear they just don't exist.... but apparently they do, only when it rains... which is never.

 

Week of Miracles!!!!!

Well this week has been pretty good.! sorry rephrase that It has been AMAZING!!!!!! you would not believe all the awesome things that happened this last weekend. Where to begin.... Well the *** family is going to be baptized this next weekend. that is, if all goes right this week. but I have no doubt it will. I'm actually very excited for them, I've seen them change so much and I really know that all they are missing to be closer and better is the restored gospel. Its so true that the gospel changes lives. I know it. Also we met with The *** family! so this lesson was kind of a do or die lesson. we were both nervous about it, we both wanted them to start to progress, but they just haven't. so we laid down what we want, what they want, and what they need to do. The lesson actually was going in the wrong direction, we were kind of out of things to say, they started to argue a little bit (** and ***) and then it got quiet. for about 30 seconds. we just kind of sat there and they he looked at us and asked "what goals?"  so from there it was him, we told him what he needed to do, and then we started talking about how he can do it. First off was to get a marriage license. we set a date for the 31st of this month. Also we talked about Tabaco. we didn't get too much goals set, but he did agree to work on it. And they took us to church the next day and they stayed for all 3 hours.... so we are excited but, its going to be a while. But we also had a super awesome lesson with Sandra Sanchez. we brought the other familia ** in our ward. The lesson was sooooooooo powerful. we talked about the plan and focused the last 2/3rds of the lesson on the atonement. We just testified of the power and ability the atonement has in our lives. it was awesome we finished the lesson off with "because of him" the Easter video from the church and they we talked about the visitor center and we will be going this week sometime with her. She also came to church! it was amazing! I love her so much, And she reads lots every time. she read 6 chapters. not even the members do that! That's why I know this is something she wants.

 

We met with ***, she is doing good, just busy so she hadn't read the book of Mormon, so that was sad, but we read and stressed the importance of reading and also church. So it was good, but she doesn't feel ready for her date in  a month. then, we also found an awesome new family. I cant remember their last name, but its *** and *** and their 4 kids. They are super prepared. they both hate the catholic church, and want to find truth. we taught the book of Mormon and they all accepted it immediately. they believed it should be true without even reading it. so that was good, he actually contacted us on the street and we had a very long conversation about the second coming and the signs that are passing, but we told him that we believe we have the true church and a prophet and he was interested and so we passed by. we were afraid he was going to pull us on tangents the whole time, but he didn't and when he did It was actually something important and needed to be addressed. So yeah that all happened from Friday to last night. Super good end to a slow beginning  of a week. so yeah.

 

Thanks for all your love and support. I really feel your love for me out here. I hope you all have a great week! stay strong, keep up the great week. I hope everything goes well with Wayne and Ruth this week and their family. I'm so gald to hear that she is doing much better and I hope it continues to go well.

 

Love

Elder Hollingshead

Dear Brother and Sister Hollingshead,

 

Elder Zerin Douglas Hollingshead has been called to be a District Leader in the California Los Angeles Mission.  This assignment has come to him because he has exhibited high qualities of leadership, demonstrated his obedience, and gained the trust of his fellow missionaries.  In this leadership position, he will be an example of conduct, appearance, and performance to his fellow missionaries.

 

As a District Leader, Elder Hollingshead will supervise the activities of between 4 to 8 Missionaries in his district.  His responsibilities will include demonstrating and teaching missionary skills and attributes to each member of his district.  One of his most important responsibilities will be to interview candidates for baptism to determine their worthiness for this most significant ordinance.

 

Sister Weidman joins me in extending to you our sincere appreciation for your fine son. We realize that your example, training and love have contributed in large measure to his success as a missionary.

 Sincerely yours,

President David N. Weidman

California Los Angeles Mission

Hola Todos!

Hola Todos!

 

Well this week has been BUSY!!!!! First off, transfers are this week and......IM STAYING!!!!! and my comp is staying also! So that was good to hear, because I really like him, he’s super cool. but the new big news is that I’m District leader here now...... that one took me by surprise. but I guess it’s what the lord wants, because that’s how transfers are done. Anyways so this last weekend was great. Lots of good things happened. Well first off, we got 2 new baptismal dates. and these people are awesome. One of them was a self referral. It’s an amazing story. It’s weird this area has its good weeks and then a bad one, then some even better weeks then a slow one, but every time we have a good week there are just miracles after miracles. and just like another missionary said not too long ago here. A miracle is a direct consequence of obedience to the laws of GOD. and its sooooo true! anyways so ***. She is super awesome. So she was diving down the road and saw two missionaries and stopped in the middle of the road and then gave them her info and told them she wanted to be taught. So we got the info that night and passed by then next night. It was great! She is extremely prepared and the funny thing is that same day we had training in zone training meeting about setting baptismal dates. So that afternoon we set a baptismal date with Her! She is so awesome. Every single question she had, the restoration had the answer. As my comp said as she started talking. She was really"screaming the restoration" which was true. We stopped by the next day and she was thinking about the message and she said she was thinking and feeling peace she hadn't felt in years. Also we got a new investigator a week or so ago. We also set a baptismal date with her. She is super humble and loving and really wants the best. She really likes to learn and always smiles when we are there! Her name is ***. Then we taught *** and *** then area also awesome. We shared half of the plan of salvation and then focused on families after. She was super excited and loved the fact that we lived with god before. she was like "wow this makes so much more sense, it makes me feel so much more important" she loves it and the more we visit them the more they want to meet with us and learn. Again they are humble. and all the cool people we teach are humble. It is something I have learned here on the mission the importance of being humble. Now I will not say I’m perfect at it. but I do know its role and importance in the gospel. The *** family is doing good. They are super ready we finished teaching the commandments and they took everything just fine. They actually asked about tithing and then we explained it. They are so fun and then they invited us for dinner on Saturday so we had a great fun carne asada this last weekend. but we had to push the date to the 26, so that is sad but I’m 99.99% sure they will get baptized and then also that the whole family will be ready by that time. The kids are super cool. and the youngest will turn 8 on the 26th so hopefully she will be baptized too. So yeah. Everything will go good with them. 

 

so yeah. It was weird, my trainer is leaving the mission also elder tramel and elder roberts who was my day one companion. It’s so weird, but I guess that’s always what happens in the mission always new ones coming in and old ones going out. but anyways. I hope everything is going well with you all. I hope you all have a great week. Time passes fast, that’s all I know, Next thing we know it will be Christmas but yeah. I love you all I hope you all count your blessings and really see all the miracles that happen in your lives because there are always some, maybe not big nor life changing but Small little acts that let you all know that God is there and He loves us all, and has a specific plan for us all. I hope you all Have a great and wonderful Blessed week!

 

Love 

Elder Hollingshead.

what a week!

Hello everyone

 

well this week was very interesting. needless to say, I think the weekend was great and hard.  Conference was great! I love conference! There were lots of talks that were really special and helpful to me. In fact my whole personal study today was reading notes and making goals and 1 hour was not enough time. but anyways things were good.

 

to start off this week was hard. it was hot again, so a little tiring. we started off doing splits on Tuesday so I was not in the area for the whole day, but the day with Elder Mansell was fun. Its so weird to me to be on splits with your old companion who is now your district leader.... anyway we had a fun time. Wednesday we went and saw the rest of the meet the Mormons movie. It was really really good. the movie got better and better as it went on. the last part was extremely powerful. so I encourage you to see it when you all have time. after the movie we went and visited **, and he is doing alright I guess, defiantly not progressing, and he's going to Utah for 10 days for a hunting trip.... so not much of him for a while now. we also saw ***, and they seemed really interested again so we were pretty excited, but after our second visit the next day they seemed turned away for some reason. we watched the restoration video with them on Thursday. and it was super powerful but they just don't understand what we teach, they still don't understand the book of Mormon and we have talked about it so many times.... its frustration, so we will keep trying them, but if they don't start progressing soon, they will have to be dropped.  quien mas..... oh we also taught Lilia and Pablo 2 times this week, 2 days in a row. they really got interested after we taught them the book of Mormon, and even though they didn't read the entire chapter, she understands a lot! he does a little, but he is more than willing to let us pass by and teach about God. the Hernandez family are doing great, we are going to start teaching the kids this week, and then they should be baptized by the end of the month. its weird but he has changed 100% its crazy, I don't even understand, other than he has felt the spirit and knows its true. for the first month and a half, he was just kind of there and didn't really care, he listened but put forth no effort. but now  when we asked him if he was ready for his baptismal date (the 12th) he said he would get baptized but he wanted to come to church one more week. so it will probably be the 19th but hopefully we get the 2 older teenagers to join in and listed too. I'm so happy for them, every lesson is amazing because they love learning! but overall its been good this week.

 

Just keep us all in your prayers, especially for my family right now! The work of the lord will continue, and that's a fact! I love conference and there were many talks that we very needed for me. I loved Elder Christofferson. and also both of President Uchtdorf. They both inspired me in many ways. I hope we all take the time to study conference and learn more of what it means to sustain and listen to a prophet. I Love you all! Keep it up, and keep up the prayers, because I KNOW THAT PRAYERS WORK! Have a great week Everyone!

 

Love

Elder Hollingshead

 

FUN In south central

Well this week has been busy. We have just been packed everyday! Its been hard to get our 20 convs. everyday. anyways.... so where to start. well we got another 8 new investigators. yeah ALOT.... its hard to keep track of all of them and plan lessons for all of them and then try to visit them 2 times a week. while still visiting less active members and dinner appointments and meetings..... lets just say I've been absolutely exhausted this weekend. on top of that we had to go to Santa Monica for an emergency zone conference to see MEET THE MORMONS. it was good....well the 20 min we saw.  it had problems because we were streaming and halfway through windows basically crashed and after that it just wouldn't load fast enough.... so supposedly we will watch it all before it comes out on the 10th. but what we saw it was good. It's really just a  documentary on like 6 families and how they live the faith. Anyways we had to take the bus, and it was a forever long bus ride out there, but o well. so yeah we got lots of new investigators, it's crazy how much. It just surprises me how much people are ready to hear the gospel here. There are so many people ready. its fun! our first new investigators is *** and his mom. He and his family went to Utah and went to the Ogden open house and then his info got sent from the temple square VC, so he's super cool. he wants to learn more, one of his neighbors is super cool, and she is a member and so she comes over all the time and visits them. then here's the fun story of the week and a awesome miracle. so Monday night we get a call from a random number, so I answer and its a member that lives outside the mission.... how they got our number I don't know. BUT it doesn't matter. so this guy named *** was referred. So his dad became a member of the church after ** came to the states. so he has his family and ** dad recently came up from the states to visit his family here in LA. but halfway through his vacation he got super sick and died suddenly..... This happened last Friday. so *** didn't know what to do for a church service so he told his buddy and his buddy referred him to us. so we went over and talked about the situation with ***. SUPER AWESOME FAMILY! I love them. so his dad was super faithful and had his temple recommend with him. so we briefly talked about the church and then talked about the plan of salvation. They love the lesson and right after we were going to go try and visit a couple of less actives, but no they made us food and wanted us to stay. need less to say we had 2 dinners that night and 3 new investigators with his family. ***'s oldest son just came from El Salvador 9 months ago, so he loves talking to us in Spanish and is just a super cool kid. they told us we could stop by on Sunday, but it ended up his brother came from El Salvador to pick his dad up so they could have his funeral down there. so we couldn't pass by, but they are super awesome! I love them so much.

 

So yeah we got some other new investigators. one named ***! She is super cool also. she just found out that her brother has cancer, so she is making an emergency trip to Mexico in 2 weeks to see him. so we taught her the plan of salvation and she loved it. we asked her some ?s and she told us that she had never thought of life like that and that she really like this plan that god has for us. So she  should be super good and teach able. she doesn't know anything about the bible.  Then also yesterday we got ***. hes a cold guy. An alcoholic, can't read, and super humble. he wants to change, he knows he has a problem so he wants to change, in fact he told us we can come any day to help him overcome his addiction. I think there will be some groups in the church for those recovering alcoholics so hopefully he can get there. But, honestly this area has a miracle everyday. We work hard, and because of that I think that is why there have been so many awesome things happening. and just like Ammon said in I think alma 24:17  I'm only boasting of my God. because it is the only reason behind it. HE is everything and my testimony has grown so much in him. I was commenting to my companion the other day, that the more I've learned and the more I've studied, the more I've realized how perfect Christ's church is. And that I know without a doubt that what I teach everyday and have taught for the last year is true! so Keep studying. You would not believe how hard it is to get people to read just 5 min everyday. So study it everyday, and if you do you can receive and answer. We were teaching the *** family. and I asked ** if he had read and he said no. so I told him that is why he dosnt know if it is true. but I've seen a huge change in him recently and like hna corona said "they are super prepared and will be baptized someday" its true they are super awesome. I love them so much. It so interesting, but as I have been out here, I learn to love people so quickly and its so weird how as soon as people say no or say don't come by anymore, I feel a weight and I feel sad, because I know that if they actually keep going they can know if it is true and receive the most happiness ever! anyways That is all! I love you all! keep up your prayers and stuff! They truly do work.

 

Love

Elder Hollingshead

 

ps. so I forgot to tell you a few weeks ago, I got invited back for the baptism of ** and ***, from when I was with Elder Cranny! so yeah that is them in the picture.

**&*** Baptism

 

 

then that is my new comp and the temple it was a awesome trip. and then the poster, I found in another apartment, I thought I was pretty good. so enjoy!



Z & Elder Earl

 

Halfway through transfer ALREADY!

Halfway through transfer ALREADY!

yeah weird its been 3 weeks with Elder Earl. Its been a great week. some very slow days but a great week. So Everything been great though. Today is a little weird, I'm with 2 other elders (not my companions) whose companions all had to go to the mission office to take a driving test/interviews. and since there is not enough cars we had to do a 4 way split kind of thing... anyways so I'm just chilling out with these elders. its good time. So yeah the beginning of this week was pretty normal, Super hot, about 100 for 4 days straight, then its started to cool down. but its hot again today.  one of those super hot days we had nothing to do. so we literally walked for 3 hours during the afternoon. it was miserable, but we stopped and talked to these 2 ladies that were selling this stuff called respaldas( basically a slush with lots of syrup. and since it was super hot, I'd figure we'd buys some and chat with them for a little.  Then I went on exchanges and for some reason, I left the area and went with the zone leader. so Elder Earl said he would take care of everything. quite a task for a new missionary, who still doesn't know the area very well. anyways it was good, a super good learning experience for him. so that was fun, then Thursday we had a great lesson with *** family. they are super cool. we taught the plan of salvation and it was super great! SHE IS AWESOME! well the whole family but her especially. Then we set up a visitor center trip for Saturday and it HAPPENED!!!!!!!!!! even though that took a good 3 hours out of our day, it was probably the most useful successful hours. ** is her husbands name (and yes they are married :) he opened up a lot as we took the VC tour. the family part really hit him I think. because the family is super important for them both. The kids were all there and i think it kind of struck all their attention. then we talked a lot about the temple. and he had lots of ?s and we answered them and then at the end he asked "when can we go in?" I told him after his baptism and he seemed to understand the importance of baptism. IT was an amazing trip! they are defiantly going to be baptized and on top of that they came to church the next day. They only came for the first hour, but that was because their kids didn't eat breakfast, but she promised that they would all come the next week. so good stuff.

Also we visited ** 3 times this week! That's amazing, and one of them was with a member, it was super good, the member lives right behind him and is super willing to help out with anything for him, It was great, oh and funny thing, we found out that ** speaks fluent English... but it doesn't matter because he is trying to help us out with Spanish, :) I love him, he super cool, He hates this world, he cant wait to finish life so he can stop living in this" horrible world" those are his words, but overall he's super cool and loves to learn. But other than that our other investigators are just alright, Jesus is not progressing nor will he get married before this weekend, which means that his baptism will be after his hunting trip to Utah the first weekend of October. so hopefully he will progress after that, Elder Earl is super frustrated with him and wants to drop him, but I feel like hes ready, he just needs another spiritual boost to get him to do the final things. so we talked about going to the visitor center with him. he said it would be good, but after his trip. so everything should be good!

Well I love you all. I'm so thankful for all your prayers and support. I really do feel the power behind them. I know that miracles happen in this area because the Spirit of the lord is resting upon the people here in LA, and over the mission. We have seen so many miracles lately its so hard to tell them all. And its all because i think people realize that Jesus Christ is very important and people do really want to come closer to him. so yeah. I Love you all and keep up the great work!

Love,

Elder Hollingshead

Hace Calor!

Well Hello everyone!

 

This week was alright, it was a struggle, as my companion put in his journal also in mine on Saturday, "we made it through the day..." it was rough. but that's just part of missionary work. some weeks just never go as planned. my companion was having a rough time yesterday and was getting pretty frustrated why everything was not going right, But I Told him , that there will always be days and weeks sometimes that will just feel like a failure. But I told him that its through these hard times, my testimony Grew, in different ways, and that we need to stop, look around, see what we could do better and then do those things. Anyways it wasn't a horrible week, just this weekend was pretty bad. IT has been super hot. I think the last 3 days its been right at 100 degrees. Oh and humid. All you Arizonans were getting flooded as we were melting, like mom said, the signs of the times. So unlike Arizona when the peak of the heat, is late July-August. here its mid-September. so I still have to suffer for another 2 weeks till it cools down. But anyways its nothing to hard to work with. So yeah, This weekend was stake conference.... As a member, stake conference is good, its different and we hear from different leaders. But... as a missionary, its hard. so the stake center is in downy, about a 25 min drive, Oh and its on this dinky little street that you can hardly find. So we got no investigators there, we couldn't hardly find a ride from members to get us there. it was frustrating. The conference was good, the stake president and president Weidman both spoke and it was great, and all the missionaries were invited the night before for the adult session, to talk about gospel conversations. so that was differnet. so that took up our saterday night from 5 on. We watched a video presentation from Elder Bednar on the uses of social media and what the church is doing to get into these sites. Basically he gave us some outlines of why we sould share our faith and then how we should do it. Also he talked about the easter video that was produced earlier this year, then the new Meet the Mormons movie that will come out right after conference. Anyways. good stuff, not that it applies to me right now, but it will someday.

Our investigators, well the work was slow so we couldn't meet with a lot of them.  so  we should be getting better lessons this week. the *** family is progressing pretty good. We brought the relief society president and she was perfect, she is a recent convert. about a year ago. and she was a great testifier of all the things the gospel has done for her family. Anyways it was good. but other than that nothing much has happened with them. we basically dropped katy, she never talks to us, and if she does its to change or cancel an appointment. we will stop by one more time to see and then decied from there, but it looks to me we probably wont teach her anymore. Then ** we could never find at her house this week so that ist frustration. But You just have to keep going and things will work out. My comp is great. he and I get along great and we get a lot done. SO yeah that's great. Other than that I think that is it for this week. Its great! I love being a missionary, every moment, even though sometimes its hard. I love you all, you are all in my thoughts and prayers often, and thanks for all your prayers in my behalf.

Have a great week!

 

Love

Elder Hollingshead

 

Elder Hollingshead - New Trainer

Elder Hollingshead - New Trainer

 

8 September 2014

 

Dear Brother and Sister Hollingshead,

Elder Zerin Douglas Hollingshead has been appointed as a trainer in the California Los Angeles Mission.  No more important position exists than that of training a new missionary.  New missionaries need to be properly taught immediately upon entering the mission field.  Initial experiences truly influence the remainder of one’s mission.  Your son will teach by both precept and example the attributes and skills that his companion will need to become an effective representative of the Lord Jesus Christ.  I am confident that he will, with the help of the Lord, be very successful in his new calling.

 

Sister Weidman joins me in extending to you our sincere appreciation for having a son of such quality and our appreciation for having Elder Hollingshead in our mission.  We know he will receive your continued support in his missionary service.

 

Sincerely yours,

President David N. Weidman

California Los Angeles Mission

Week 1 training... = AWESOME

Week 1 training... = AWESOME

Well hello everyone!

SO this week has been crazy fun! lots of miracles and lots of crazy new things. SO yeah, My Trainee. His name is ELDER EARL. Hes cool. he grew up in Utah and then moved to virgina 4 years ago. Hes cool. hes 19 but just graduated from High school. Hes right in the middle of his family, and he told me today that hes actually really missing home right now.... so yeah.... Its hard but its a stage we all have to go through to progress. Anyways. yeah so Tuesday we got up early to get to artesia. We had a little training and then did a little planning for what we would do. Then we headed back up to our area with our new comp! Hes got super good Spanish for 6 weeks. well he did take 4 years in high school, and was in the intermediate class so yeah that's really good. he loves to talk to everyone in Spanish too. I told him to watch out for that, because los morenitos (blacks) don't like that at all, and on top of that, were in south central... not the safest place. Anyways life has been good here, lots of miracles and fun! So basically all the missionaries around us have greenies. Its great. We are literally the freshest zone! But yeah, so where do we begin. Well we met with ventura a couple of times this week. we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them. they liked it, we focused ont he need to get baptized. then we came back on saterday and taught them. well we read with them from 2 nep 31. again we focused on baptism and that gate we need to enter. we invited them to be baptized and they said yes!

 

Sorry about that, my finger accidently pressed tab and then it sent quickly.....

 anyways continuing. So we kindof sortof, put October 19th as a date for them. We will follow up this week on that. also we set a date for sure with the *** family. That was super good. and it was all by the spirit. that is something ive learned a lot on the mission is to create a lesson plan and then listen hard to the spirit, and it will tell you exactly what you need to say, invite, or teach. So we invited them, and they both said YES! it was awesome! I love it, Inviting people to be baptized is the best, then we set a date for the 12th of October. el hermano, he has a few doubts and the biggest is the book of Mormon. we will be taking them to the visitor center this Saturday so hopefully that will help him see the truth of the message. the problem with them is that they don't come to church, and on top of that, this week is stake conference, so it will be far to get people to church, its all the way in downy.... anyways that's another problem. We met with ** last night and talked about the book of Mormon. he really liked it, and told us he would read it. Luis loves science and so he talked a lot about how this answers the ?s over where the natives came from. he super smart. awesome guy. Then we got 2 new investigators, **+**. they are both super humble and love their family. Lots of cool things happened in the lesson. they were a street contact reffereal. they want to know how they can become a stronger family with god in the middle. so yeah super prepared, the only problem is that they work a lot and are hardly home to visit, so we just told them we would stop by and see how everything is going. Yeah.

 

So yeah now to street contacts. so our goal as a mission now is 20 contacts everyday. in our area theres a lot of people so its not super hard. we have found lots of cool potential. one of them it was this 30 or so year old woman, she had a daughter, and was waiting for the bus. as we were talking to her, she at first didn't not seem interested, but we mentioned living day prophets and she perked up and then as we talked a little more, she started to cry a little. I have no doubt she felt the spirit. she gladly gave us her info. we stopped by late last night, and she was busy, but she told us next sunday. as we looked in. I think she's a single mom of 3 kids. it just looked like things were hard. but she has lots of potential. then there was another we saw waiting for the bus (its always at the bus stops) she was a mom with 2 little kids. we started talking to her, and she really looked at us and then she started talking to us. She lives in north Hollywood (far away) and she is in drug rehab. she was supposed to be released this month, but they told her that, she needs to stay in another 4-5 months. she was super depressed, she took her last 8 hour pass, to spend time with her kids to go shopping with them. She was on her way back to Hollywood when we contacted her, she started balling right there. She told us she really wants to hear our message, life has been hard for her, but at this time she cannot receive any visits. we gave her a Mormon.org card and told her to look it up, and that when she can visit with us. to request missionaries. I just have a feeling that she will someday become a member and know the gospel in her life.

I just want to finish, by saying today, that I know that this is the true gospel. IT HAS POWER,  The lord is preparing people on the left and right of us to hear this message, I saw it multiple times this week. I love you all, I hope you have a great week. Keep up the great work and service

 

Love

Elder Hollingshead

transfers!

Sept. 1

Well this week has been great! more or less... alot of days were just alright but we ended with a good weekend.  It has just been nuts trying to keep up the 2 areas.  So now for the transfers...... drum roll...... I'M STAYING! YAY that’s what I was expecting. They split the areas and me and elder Mansell are training. Yeah yikes but it will be great times. There will be 3 new trainers just in Huntington Park ward. So that will be fun. I'm actually a little nervous to be training, sometimes I still feel like I don't know what I'm doing, but it will be a good learning experience. Lots of fun things will happen. So here's the not so secret part, earlier this transfer, when I had an interview with President, he told me I would be training this transfer, so it wasn't so unexpected. But anyways. That’s the news for today. But the rest of the week just went alright. but there are a couple of miracles that happened for sure.

So first off. We met with *** on Tuesday, and he told us he wills probably getting married in the next couple of weekends!!!! Yeah, that will be great. He says he wants to get married and have his wife and kids get baptized, and then a month or so, he will get baptized. He has a chewing tobacco problem, but he says that when he sees his family get baptized it will give him a little more strength to overcome his addiction. Anyways it was awesome to hear that. He really wants to change, this last year his relationship with his wife/girlfriend has been rough, he wants to change and become more of a family man. He’s awesome. Anyways. After that, nothing much exciting happened until Friday.
So we have an investigator named ***, he’s super cool. He owns a music store and is a professional singer.  He loves music, so we get along. Last week, he told us that he had a friend that wanted to visit with us. So this Friday we showed up and there was this lady name ***. She is super Awesome! She is super prepared, and really wants to come closer to God. So about 9 years ago she used to go to the Mormon Church on Jefferson and Vermont.  but she was a little confused about the book of Mormon, so she went to other churches. Now she still believes in god, but never really joined a church she felt was right. As of like a month ago, her x left her, she has 2 kids and she’s 3 months pregnant. She is super depressed and is really going through a hard time. Because Joshua is an awesome guy and loves helping people out, he gave her a job at his shop for the time being to help her out and get back on her feet. We started talking to her and she loved it, she loved the message of the restoration and she accepted a baptismal date for the 12th of October. The next day we stopped by to give her a book of Mormon and she almost started crying, she promised she would read it. She is so excited to learn and grow her strength again.  Anyways that is a miracle, because most of our investigators right now are kind of so and are not really progressing. She is a new miracle that we will work with a lot! 

 

Anyways it was good. I Love the gospel. Sunday I was asked to give a talk, on missionary work. So my first talk in Spanish for 10min.... yikes I was pretty nervous, but it ended up great I think. After that, we did a musical number, and Man do I miss singing. Since I’m the only one who plays the piano I never get to sing.  So it’s a bummer, but I get to play for the ward and at all the baptisms. So yeah, learning all those hymns was good. But oh I can’t wait until the cooler weather comes. I feel like I’m going to go back to AZ and melt. It gets to like 90 here and it feels so hot, anyways from what I’ve heard, it supposed to cool down after this week. and then stay cooler until we hit fall. Anyways until that point it’s enough to say that we melt in our apartment and that it’s just hot, and I go pee a lot, trying to stay hydrated. But this is defiantly the lord work! I love it, I’ve felt more joy and happiness here on the mission, because I get to see people make the change and to have Christ change them. And I know he can. There are a lot of weaknesses I have, and a lot of things that I need to work on, but I know that if I try my best that we can receive strength! I love you all! Thanks for all your prayers and support. 

 

Love

Elder Hollingshead

Week 3 Trio!

Well Hello Everyone!

 

This week has been pretty good.  Busy! Let me tell you that is one thing I’ve learned about on the mission, especially in this area!  We have been so busy! It’s a great thing, but it gets tiring some days. So yeah. Where to begin.... well Elder Boyd.. I mean Jordan is now at home, sad day but we had a blast together! There are so many fun things we did. But Elder Mansell and I are working good, I feel bad, but Spanish is super hard for him, se cuesta mucho...(there’s a little Spanish for ya) so that's one struggle, but I’ve realized in the last 2 months my Spanish has improved A tons. I don't know what the change was, but it was dramatic,  In may I still really struggled and I could hardly teach a good lesson in Spanish, now in august 3 months later, I feel like I lead out in the Spanish and teach alright. Now I agree with Ryan here, Learning another language will take a life time, And There is no way I could learn it all in 2 years, but At this point, I can say what I want to say, and I can learn at a lot faster at a rate. So that's been good. I Love Spanish! It’s so fun to speak and learn another language. So yeah. Investigator wise, everything's going good. *** got confirmed yesterday and it was good. Then *** finally came to church again, it had been 3 weeks. Technically he’s not progressing, but I think we're close to get him close to progressing, and hopefully baptized before the end of the year. He’s super ready! and loves the church and missionaries. So yeah lots of good things happening. We taught ** again! And we set a baptismal date with him, silly me, we accidently set it on conference weekend so we will have to change it, but other than that everything was good.  He super awesome and loves the message of the restoration! He really wants to know if it’s true. Then josh came to church again, He super awesome but we can hardly ever meet with him because he has a weird schedule that he doesn't know usually until the day of or day before so we can hardly schedule a time to meet with him. We also are teaching another guy named **, He is awesome! He knows a ton and loves everything we teach, the only problem, is that he needs to get divorced to his wife and re marry is other "wife". He says he’s working on it, but that his real wife doesn't want to divorce so she won’t sign the paper/agree to the divorce. So we just have to wait. Then yeah I think that's the only updates that are needed on our investigators.

 

Transfers are next week! Wow way to fast. So next Monday we will see what will happen.... And then this Tuesday I have my Year Training! YIKES! Wow I can’t believe it’s been a year. It goes by way too fast. and everyone says the second year goes by even faster.!!!! I’m scared but over the last few months I've noticed some changes that I like,

First is that my testimony has grown so much, in what we believe and what we KNOW, I love it, I love the Gospel. I love Jesus Christ and I’ve learned to trust him so much.

Second, Missionary work isn't so awkward for me anymore, before I felt super weird talking to people on the street, and being bold with people, but it’s become part of me, I no where near perfect, and there are lots of things I can improve  but overall I have improved over the year.

Third, Leadership, over this transfer, I’ve learned to take the lead a little bit! Between covering 2 areas, having my companion leave and then me having to lead in my area, I've learned a lot!, It’s hard sometimes, but It good to learn these skills.

There are tons of things I’ve learned over the last year, but these are my top three recent ones! I heard one missionary at the end of his mission say, "I may not have become everything I wanted to be on my mission, but I’ve learned how to become" That is super true, We may not learn everything we want to, but we learn how to become what we want to be! I love that thought, so yeah,

I love you all! You are in my thoughts and prayers often!  I enjoy reading and hearing from each and everyone of you! Funny story this week, so Friday is mail day, that is when mail is distributed between everyone. So they handed me 2 letters, one was from Amber, the other was from someone I didn't know.... The only name on the front was Lea Hollingshead.??? I opened it up and realized it was not for me, it was to an Elder Edwards in the mission, but when ever we see each other we say cousin.... because his mom was a Hollingshead! So I don't know where the connection is but yeah there are Hollingshead’s in Utah. So yeah I got to forward that to elder Edwards. anyways. Yeah I love you all and Hope you all have a great week! I hope you don't freeze or drown over there in Arizona, I heard it’s been cooler and with lots of rain!

 

Love

Elder Hollingshead